Operation: Silver!
by Aliniel
Summary: After the El Search Party defeats the maddened King Nasod, they found themselves with a new party member. Now, this Nasod Girl menaces with making the whole team fall appart due to her awkward behaviour. This story follows a different plot than the original game. EDIT: This fic finally has a cover and it's all thanks to Zetsu :3
1. New member

_**Hello again! Yeah, yeah; I know I said I was going to take a rest. But an important person had achieved the impossible and convinced me to come back.**_

 _ **Since I don't want the same thing from last time happening, I want to make a somewhat fresh start. That means that I'll be putting on hold all my previous works until I finish this one.**_

 _ **I'm sorry if you were excited about them, but I really need a break from that stuff.**_

 _ **So this fic is a totally new diferent concept: For starters, no Yuri. Yeah, I know, I guess It's still fine. Also, I'm trying out a different pairing. Not really my favourite but at least is not one I totally dislike haha.**_

 _ **Ok, that's enough of me. Let's get to it.**_

* * *

"POWER OFFLINE. EMERGENCY MODE ACTIVATED"

A recorded voice started shouting. The El Search Party stood in the devastated stage of their fight against the huge entity that reigned over the place, looking around without being able to identify the source. In the center of a ring shaped corridor, a huge room housed a Nasod almost as huge. It was the self-proclaimed king Nasod, who stood immobile on the center of the room. Booth his arms resting on the smashed ground beneath his fists. The intense yellow light now gone from his face.

It looked like a defeated knight, resting in peace inside his armor, when it was actually just a large machine who just got its power source removed. After the tremendous fight, Rena finally managed to sneak close enough to the glass cylinder where a large El fragment was contained, connected to the machine by a complex net of wires. The moment she managed to unplug the stone from the machine, the fight ended.

"Whew… that was something…" Elsword said, crawling out from beneath one of the fists "One more second and that thing would have turned me into a stamp."

Despite his careless attitude, Elsword could barely hide the pain he was feeling. There was blood flowing from cuts all over his face and forehead, caused by the flying debris the king's arms would send flying on each of its punches. He was also holding to his chest, where a broken bone was most likely waiting to be healed.

He wasn't the only one injured. Raven, who was still holding to his sword watching the metallic colossus as if it could came back to life at any moment; was also barely conscious. He took a direct hit from one of the King's swipes. The hit made him fly all across the room and crash on the opposite end. If it weren't for the wind magic that Rena used to slow his fall, the injuries could have been a lot worse.

Rena was the only one unscathed, her abilities allowed her to gracefully evade the big attacks. Seeing her agility, the King decided to focus on his other enemies, believing that the elf wouldn't dare to abandon them. Little he knew that was the plan. It was all a diversion to give Rena a chance to sneak near the El stone and snatch it. The original plan was to get the stone and run away, but the fact that the stone was working as the Nasod power supply was a pleasant surprise.

"ATTENTION, AUXILIARY POWER IS DEPLETED, CRYOGENIC PODS WILL BE DEACTIVATED, SANITARY PERSONNEL HEAD TO ESTASIS ROOMS IMMEDIATELY"

"What is that ominous voice talking about?" Chung asked, reuniting with the rest of the group. Since he was the new member of the team, they asked him to watch the entrance and keep any additional enemy from entering the room. It wasn't a decision that he liked, but there wasn't any time to protest, so he just had to put up with it. Seeing how his friends where now all beaten up, it may have been the right decision to leave fresh reinforcements waiting.

"Cryogenic… I think I heard that somewhere. It was about freezing living creatures in a estasis state. Used to help certain beings to hibernate and effectively live through thousands of years…" Aisha explained. Although she wasn't visibly injured, the toll the fight placed on her was obvious at first sight. With Rena busy with her sneaky plan, Aisha was the only one capable of protecting the team from the huge amount of guided missiles the King had in store for them. But what was more devastating for her, was the sudden energy ray the huge machine shot from its chest. Although she managed to evade it using her teleportation magic, she was forced to evade again when the missiles stopped targeting her friends to go after her. Although being incredibly useful, each consecutive cast of her teleportation spell puts additional stress on her body. Now, she wasn't even able to hold her wand.

"Does that mean that there could be people in that… estasis room they're talking about?" Raven asked, lifting the feeble mage off the ground in a princess carry. Aisha, surprised by the mercenary sudden act of compassion, slowly nodded.

"We can't risk leaving people behind… Chung, you and Elsword go investigate it, we'll make sure to make a clear path for you on our way out.

* * *

Finding the estasis room was easy thanks for the amount of navigational maps that covered the hallways. They weren't there on their way in, maybe it was something related to the so called _emergency mode_ ; it was located beneath the large room that housed the King Nasod.

It was a small room, poorly illuminated by electric lamps on the ceiling. Both sides of the room were filled with strange looking capsules with a glass cover in the front. Most of them had the glass broken. Vines and fungus grow over all of them, with the exception of a single one, located in the deepest end of the room. There was light inside it, and as they were about to arrive next to it, the glass cover moved and a thick white mist poured out of it. It moved out of the way, revealing the smoke filled interior of the pod. As they were staring at it in expectation, a hand suddenly came from beneath the smoke. A small, extremely pale hand that searched blindly something to grab onto. Elsword reacted by grabbing that hand and helping however was inside out the pod.

It turned out to be a girl… not exactly a human one. A blue gem was embedded on her forehead and instead of ears she had two metallic cones poking out of her head. She was dressed in clothes they never saw before. A white top piece with black parts in the chest decorated with golden circles that seemed like two extra pair of eyes. A small black cape that only covered her shoulders. Black shorts and knee-high white boots. Every end of her clothes had a pink stripe and all of it was decorated with gilded buttons and brooches.

"She's a Nasod!" Chung warned Elsword, pulling his friend away from the girl. Having her only support suddenly removed she wobbled until she managed to held onto the pod's edge. Now that the smoke had cleared they could see a comfy looking red mattress on its bottom and a fluffy red pillow on top of it.

"Dude! Calm down." Elsword protested, holding again his sides, the sudden movement brought back the pain. "She doesn't look dangerous, let's just talk with her…"

As he was speaking, the girl finally seemed to begin recovering from her sudden awakening. She moved her white hair out of her face and straightened up before speaking.

"What is going on? Explain human." She demanded. Her voice sounded a lot more human like than they could have expected although a metallic echo could still be hear.

"W-We came to help you. Don't worry, we destroyed the bad guy who was keeping you here. It's safe now." He said, tending his hand again for help. But what he received was a strong and firm slap to his face.

"You idiot! What have you done?! You've ruined it, everything, why did you come here in the first place?! Nobody asked for your help!"

As she was shouting at Elsword, who was now also holding to his face where a red hand-shaped mark was appearing; Chung just stood there, not really sure if he should say something or not.

It took a lot of time to make her calm down. Elsword tried his best at explaining the situation: How the nasods from the Island were attacking people and stealing minerals from Bethma, how they arrived searching for the El stone and found it powering the King, and how they fighted against she heard the whole story, common sense seemed to return to her.

"It doesn't make sense. I didn't give any orders for a military protocol to be executed…" She said. Both Elsword and Chung stared at each other not sure what to say now. The girl started to wander the room, lost in her thoughts.

"Moby, Remy," She called, and two small metallic balls emerged from the same pod as her. They flew to her side. Looking closely they seemed like tiny knights, with a spear on one of its sides and a shield on the other. One was black and moved in a very lively way near the girl, the other was white and positioned itself between the girl and the two boys, watching closely every one of their moves.

"It seems like the situation exceeds the scope of situational analysis. I'll need to gather information and came up with a restoration plan. Now if you'll excuse me… I need you two to leave so I can start." She finally said after wandering the room for a very long time.

"So you're going to investigate who created this… military protocol…?" Elsword asked, trying to recall her nodded as a response "That's great! Because we want to know it too… so, why don't you tag along with us? You're alone here right? Don't worry, I'll be your friend!"

Elsword tend his hand again, hoping to not be slapped again. Chung pulled from him, luckily he minded his broken bones this time.

"Elsword! We don't know a thing about her, you can't jus-"

"I accept," she suddenly said. Seeing how the two of them were staring at her in confusion she elaborated, "I accept your friendship proposal, human. I'll join your party until I find the answers I seek. For the sake of this partnership I shall aid you in the meantime. I'll be heading out now, meet with me at the exit. Oh, and from now on you'll refer to me as Eve."

* * *

Escaping the huge installations of the Nasods turned out to be a lot easier than going in. Apparently, as the King was defeated, every other Nasod in the whole place also stopped functioning. They all must have been powered by the El stone that they took. They questioned Eve about it, but the Nasod-girl wasn't interested in explaining anything of it to them.

Chung wasn't the only one feeling wary of her. On their way back, both Aisha and Rena walked behind her, carefully watching everyone of her movements and gestures. And Raven was walking even farther away behind them. The only one who didn't seemed to be cautious of the new girl was Elsword, who was walking right next to her, cheerfully telling her about the adventures they went through before and ignoring the intense glare the white flying metallic ball was giving him. The black one however seemed to be in a paradise, it was acting like a puppy when it gets to take a walk for the first time, going from one corner to another to see, smell and lick everything it sees, except that instead of licking, it analyzes it with a blue projected light..

Although it was peaceful, the way back to the Ponggo village was long. The rugged terrain of the floating isle didn't help either. Now that their lives weren't threatened by a horde of blood thirsty machines, they had some time to look around. This place must have been really pretty years ago, but now it was like a cemetery. Large piles of discarded or destroyer Nasods stocked on each corner. The skeletons of flying ships and other big machines they didn't knew what they were for decorated the many plains of the place. Even the ground was full of holes and craters where the Nasod had been excavating for years, replacing even chunks of terrain for metallic structures.

They finally arrived at their destination. An old and rusty elevator guarded by a group of Ponggo. Carrying any weapon they could salvage from the Nasods or the Crow bandits, the small creatures did what they could to protect the only access to their home. The Ponggo were a peaceful race that lived on that island since long ago. They coexisted along with the Nasod for a long time without having trouble until very recently. Before the incident it was really rare to see a Nasod functioning, and most of the ones they ever spotted were just surveillance spider-like ones. Until they suddenly started growing in number and mining for resources, causing the Ponggo's homeland to be in danger.

Once the old machine finally brought them to their destination, a group of Ponggo came rushing to welcome them. They surrounded the elevator exit and started cheering their heroes. Elsword walked proudly in the middle of the crowd, waving at the people with a smile. However he quickly realized how a big part of the crowd wasn't cheering. They were staring at the Nasod who was walking right next to him and murmuring to each other. Maybe they knew her, or they just realized she was a Nasod and were now confused. Soon, the murmurs stopped as Adel, the Ponggo's leader; stood in front of the group to speak.

"My friends," He said in his old and rusty voice "I have no words to express how thankful I feel for all you've done for us… But, I'm afraid that I need to ask you. Why are you walking next to one of the Nasod?"

"Oh, She?" Elsword answered, looking at his teammates trying to find some support, but they had already left the place, he only saw Chung buried beneath a group of kinds that wanted him to play with them "Don't worry Adel, she's with us. I assure you she won't do any harm."

After a short reflection, Adel finally nodded at him "Then, I'll leave her in your care. I trust in your word young man, but know that we won't tolerate her doing any harm to us."

Elsword bowed as a thanks. He looked at Eve to see if she was going to say something but she looked totally uninterested in the matter. He wondered if she even realized they were talking about her. The crowd finally dispersed, the kids climbing Chung were called by their parents and left the boy, who quickly ran to safety behind Elsword.

"What was Adel talking about? Is there any problem with keeping… her?" Chung asked, looking at the new teammate.

"Keeping? She's not a pet dude. And no, I told them she's with us so they don't have to worry. He said she'll be under our care so…"

Chung sighed, wishing that Elsword knew what he was getting himself into. Even if she looked that inofensive, Chung still remembers how one of those Nasod explorers almost got him. When he thought he destroyed it, the little thing went and exploded. If it weren't by his armor who knows what could have happen.

Now that there wasn't anyone else there to see them, they headed to their lodging. Although they usually camp in the forest or any other suitable place, the Ponggos allowed them to stay for free in the only place with spare rooms in the whole village. It was the same building where Adel imparts his class to the younger members of the tribbe. Despite being underground and have little natural light, the Ponggos' village was surprisingly cozy. Considering the chilling winds that blow on the island surface and the amount of blood seeking machines that lurk it, the idea of a warm refuge beneath the ground was a lot more interesting. The Ponggos lived in the island from centuries ago, and in that time they dug tunnels and entire domes on the island lower levels by themselves. They build their homes with the excess materials they get from the digging. Even if they were simplistic, their houses were pretty comfortable. It was surprising the fact that they can make furniture out of the roots they find.

However, the village was not as big as it used to by, since the awakening of the Nasod and their mining activities had caused whole parts of the village to collapse and bury entire houses. It was a good thing that it finally stopped.

"I know it doesn't look like it, but this is starting to hurt a lot… I hope Rena can treat it..." Elsword said once they arrived at the school, caressing the darkened skin on his side.

It was the tallest building of the whole village despite having only three floors. The exterior was made of white bricks and it only had a few windows per floor. The ceiling was made of dark brown roof tiles and it was almost as high as the dome ceiling. The insides were really similar to any other school back in the human villages: long corridors with classrooms on each side and two stairs in the hall that leaded to the higher floors. The second and third floor must have been made for students to stay, since most rooms on these floors were small and only had a bed and a table as furniture.

"I can help you with that. We just need a quiet place where you can rest," She said as they were walking upstairs. Elsword looked at her with shining eyes and increased his pace towards the room they were using. He opened the door and found the rest of the team already there. They had shut the blinds and were busy tending to their wounds. Aisha had an ice bag on her head, while Rena was bandagging the many injuries Raven got.

The room they had wasn't different from the others, with the difference that they just moved some more beds into the room, leaving almost no space to move. But it was ok since they didn't expend time in it except for sleeping. Eve asked Elsword to lie down and called for her two ball-pets. Elsword stared at them nervous as they projected their analyzing light over his body.

"It seems your bones aren't broken. Your body however sustained a substantial amount of damage. It's incredible that you managed to move from there to here without complaining." She said, reaching out with her hands. A holographic screen appeared in front of her. Lines and lines of words written in an unknown language for them danced in the hologram as she moved her hands all over it. Even Rena stopped her bandagging to look at what was the Nasod doing.

"Initializing Code: Recovery," She said. A blue light flew from her hands into her drones and they sprayed it as a pink shower. Elsword stared amazed at how the scrapes and cuts in his skin began disappearing. He tried to sit but felt again the pain in his side.

"Don't move. I used my energy to focus your body tissue regeneration, but deeper wounds will take longer to close. None of your remaining wounds are dangerous, which means that you just have to rest for a couple of days and you'll be back to normal."

* * *

The next day they decided to spend some time in the village resting, since the Ponggos offered to repair the crashed airship for them to return. All of them got ready to head out, each with a plan on their minds, but they all had the same concern. What would their new teammate do, especially considering what happened yesterday. They hoped she would stay in the bedroom, but she headed out on her own without speaking with anyone.

"It's a bit suspicious…" Aisha said, garnering Elsword's attention. He was still lying in his bed. Unlike the rest of the team, he decided to nap through the morning. After all it was what Eve recommended him.

"Don't be like that, maybe she just wants to take a stroll…" He said. But it didn't convinced them. Seeing their faces he added: "Why don't you go with her if you're so worried?"

"I'm going to visit Amos, the alchemist; and see if we can brew some healing potions. We wouldn't be in such a bad condition now if we did that beforehand…" Aisha said, already walking towards the door.

"And I'm going to train, I can't let something like this interrupt my routine…" Raven said, but Rena pulled from his shoulder.

"No, you're staying here with Elsword. I'll be taking care of both of you."

After everyone stating their business, Chung realized he would need an excuse or they would just leave watching the Nasod in his hands.

"And I need to do some maintenance on my weapons… So I can't either…" He said, hoping for them to not complain. It was true after all.

"See, there's no reason to worry, mister "Worry" much here is not even interested so…" Elsword said before turning around and pretending to be asleep.

Chung sighed. It seems the task was his now. He headed out and wondered where the Nasod girl must have wandered off to. It was easy to locate her since he spotted a group of kid Ponggos peeking on a corner at something. Joining them he discovered Eve walking down the street, looking at everything in sight. Her two flying balls accompanied her, floating near her shoulders. He followed her from afar, not letting his presence be noticed for a while. She didn't seem to be doing nothing more than… taking a stroll. She would stop to look at what the locals were doing, and they would stare back at her, unsure of what she wants. Some of them were afraid of her, while others decided to just go back inside their homes at her mere sight. All that she did though was merely watch and observe.

"I see that a lot of things had changed since I went into hibernation," She said, looking at Chung who was surprised she noticed him.

"I guess they did… huh…" He stopped speaking because she just got moving again. Rushing to follow her, he accompanied the Nasod girl on her stroll around the village.

"Are you following me for some reason?" She asked after a long silent walk.

"Oh, since you're new I decide to make sure you were doing fine," Chung said, omitting any mention to his mistrust towards the girl.

"I'm perfectly fine, you can go back now."

* * *

 _ **I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Rave for helping me proofreading it :3**_


	2. New quest

_**I don't really have much to say today so... enjoy :3**_

* * *

"Sounds like a good plan, but… when do I have to intervene?" Chung asked, reviewing the map spread on the table.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, after you fly over the wall, do I have to wait for you or what?"

"Oh, I think you misunderstanded the plan," Eve clarified, folding the map back in her bag " I intend to take on this mission alone."

"What?!"

It's been more than a month since Eve first joined the team. They all already got used to her various _eccentricities_ , however it was still hard putting up with them. One in particular was specially troublesome. She had almost no teamwork at all. She always takes on missions alone, not allowing nobody going with her.

Today was no exception. Even when their target was to help with the demons assaulting Belder's shore, Elsword decided that they should take some time to gather powerful allies, since the demons weren't like anything they fought before. It wasn't the fastest way of doing it, but at least it was a good one. For that purpose they decided to go back to Ruben, to the adventurer guild headquarters and start helping out with their quests. Elsword believes they'll be able to met some interesting people that way.

"I think I explained myself clearly. I created this plan to be executed by a single individual, and that's me. Now, if you excuse me…" The Nasod girl said, leaving the Hamelian alone in the table.

Chung didn't bothered following her. He headed for the inn where they were staying and started working on his stuff again. He was already used to it, but it was frustrating. Not only because he feels useless being secluded in his room working on the maintenance of his gear… but there was something more annoying than that.

As hours passed, night finally arrived. He was busy fitting a handful of gunpowder on one of his grenades when he heard a knock on the door. Eve came in without waiting for his answer, he didn't even had to ask her as she greeted him with a "Mission accomplished." That was the thing that bothered him more than any other. Eve had an incredible 100% success rate on her quests. And it didn't make sense. Chung remembers how underwhelmingly weak Eve was when she joined the team. Not being able to take down even the smallest of enemies. But in a single month her strength skyrocketed. Which wouldn't be annoying if it weren't because she just became strong. Like that, from one day to another her strength suddenly grew. She explained something about unlocking codes and Nasod stuff that Chung didn't bothered to understand. To him, she just cheated. He, like any other human, had to train for years to become stronger, and that machine girl just became powerful with a snap from her fingers. It was so frustrating…

The only problem with working with the adventurer's guild quests was that they are almost always separated. And the quests are sometimes oddly specific, like this time when they requested two fire mages, forzing Elsword and Aisha to team up by themselves. It was so often that they already had some teams decided beforehand. Chung would almost always go with Elsword, unless he has to go with someone else, then he pairs up with Raven or Rena. He tried working with Aisha sometimes but their fight styles don't complement well enough.

What almost never happens is that he's paired with Eve. She never wants to team up with anyone, and if she has to do she always go with either Elsword or Aisha. But this time both of them where required to a specific quest and Raven was already working with Rena so… He had to match up with Eve.

"I don't understand your complaining. We completed the quest, and we did it in a single day." Eve said. She removed the dust from her black mini dress. As she was cleaning herself, Moby and Remy flew over the table Chung was working and slowly landed on it. The black one was dirty with mud, it rolled on the table to get rid of it causing the white one to look at it and sigh, or at least make a similar gesture to sighing.

"You completed the quest, I've been here all day. I'm a knight from Hamel! I'm not supposed to sit and relax while others do my job." Chung protested.

"Well, if you want to do something useful, why don't you go pay the bill? We will be leaving early tomorrow so I suggest you go to bed already too." Eve said, crawling beneath her blankets.

Chung get into his bed. It was a clever idea getting a single room for both to save on money, but now it was a bit awkward. The frustration he was feeling kept him from sleeping. He rolled in his bed trying to sleep, and ended up looking at the other bed. Eve was already sleeping, probably tired after doing that quest alone. The blankets on her bed moved slowly with her breathing. A faint moonbeam was the only thing casting light over her. Seeing her sleeping so peacefully would make it hard to believe what a handful she really was. After a while, Chung suddenly turned his back to her, realizing he was staring for a long time. The moment he did, he found the white drone right in front of his face. The small flying ball moved away, but not after pressing his tiny leg onto Chung's head.

"Did that thing just give me a head pat?" Chung thought to herself, looking at Remi as it went back to the table.

* * *

Chung had a bad night. Ever since he was paired up with her he has been doing nothing during the day, resulting in an excess of energy that kept him from sleeping properly. Once he woke up, he searched the room and found that his partner had already left. Sighing he prepared as fast as he could and left the room. On his way to the exit, someone called his name. It was the inn owner. He was an old man with dark skin and thick eyebrows.

"The girl that was with you left you a message," He said waving a closed letter.

Chung grabbed it and started reading on his way out. The letter was unmistakable hers. It was easy to recognize her handwriting. Each letter was identical in height and length to each other, their lines also had the same thickness and even the pressure of the pen against the paper was applied in an homogenous fashion preventing any blank spaces as well as ponds of ink. Although it looked very neat, it also gave the letter a cold and sterile feeling. Kind of what you could expect from its author.

 _To Chung Seiker._

 _I received a new quest this morning. I departed immediately to fulfill the mission. This quest was urgent, which is the reason I didn't bothered waking you up. It is also pretty difficult, so I decided that it would be best for you to wait at the inn._

Beneath her words there was a seal that he guessed was her signature. A circle with three lines inside of it, arranged in a cross with it's central stick bend downwards. It was really similar to Belder's symbol. He tossed the letter away. And went back to his room. This was enough.

What's the meaning of leaving him behind when the mission was supposed to be difficult. One thing was being so selfish as to think that she can handle normal quests without relying in her partners, and another thing was being so reckless as to head alone into a dangerous quest. They had rules about heading alone into dangerous requests, and Eve knew it well.

Chung slammed the door of his room open. He rushed to put his armor on and threw the cannon over his shoulders, latching it against a strap on his back. The unfinished grenades where on his deck, he sighed looking at them. Even without having plenty of time to work on them he had lots of trouble making them work.

He left his room for the second time today. Now there was another problem. Where would Eve be? If she received the quest just this morning, the advertisement should still be on the news board.

Most small villages like that one had one news board on each inn or tavern. They were one of the main reasons people visited the place, since it was pretty easy to find jobs there. However sometimes people also posts _quests_ for the adventurers. Chung stood now in front of the one placed on the inn's dining hall. He recognized the advertisements from the last day, but now there were suddenly a lot of new ones. If Eve said it was a difficult quest, he would only have to look for the hardest one.

"Find my lost pet… Clean my house… Paint a wall…" Chung readed, those were mostly simple jobs, most likely posted there for young kids. He continued looking through them until he found one that matched what he was looking for:

"My daughter disappeared yesterday on the forest, please bring her back."

It was the only one with a request that could be considered _hard_. If that person was kidnapped it was probably bandits, but there was also the chance that she got lost. The advertisement didn't have much info about it. However, he already knew what to do. More or less. The unnamed forest the advertisement mentioned was most likely the thick mass of trees that surrounded the village. Given the little information he had, Chung decided to start searching the more obvious place: the path that connected the village with the main road between Elder and Bethma. It was a path created by the constant flow of travelers. Since it was so usually transited, it was a weird place to get lost, however the flow of people also attracted bandits and other criminals.

He walked for about an hour across that path. There wasn't anything out of the usual. Trees on both sides of the dirt road. Some places had rocks stacked in an attempt to make some walls and there were remains of torches that could been used last night. His interest in the quest started fading as he wondered if Eve already completed it and was waiting for him back at the inn. There was even the chance that this wasn't the right quest. As he was questioning it, something out of place finally caught his attention. Right next to the path there was some smashed plants. Some of their leaves had red stains on them. He examined them up close, it was most likely dried blood. It looked like someone dragged something over the plants.

He grabbed his cannon and headed into the forest, following the traces of blood. The sight of the red liquid made him feel uneasy, forcing him to haste his pace and at the same time, making it harder to stay on guard. The trace of blood drops and rustled plants leaded him deep into the forest. He finally arrived at the end of it. It ended at some ruins in the forest. They looked like the remains of an old house. Only two of its walls were still standing, and a long stone fence surrounding the place that could have been used to keep cattle long time ago. The remaining traces headed into the old building. It was only one story tall, and the ceiling had crumbled over the years. The door and windows were missing and the walls were covered in vines and moss. Feeling his target so close, Chung slowed down. Only them he realized he recklessly charged into the forest. But he could worry about that later, now it was time to make sure the girl was safe.

With his cannon at the ready, he took slow steps towards the door of the ruined house. The remains of the ceiling prevented any light to shine on the interior, making it impossible to see if there was something inside. Chung was already fearing the worst, considering that not a single sound had came out of the house since he was there.

Then it happened. It was so fast Chung could only threw himself to the ground. He heard a strong shriek behind him, and before he was able to turn around, a large flying creature charged against him. Catching only a brief flash of the monster's eyes, Chung get out of its way. Then he saw her. A small kid being helplessly dragged around in the creature's back claws. Now that he managed to dodge its first attack, it flew higher and circled to face the young boy. It was a bat, a giant one. It was almost totally black, except for the white fur surrounding it's neck. It had two big red eyes, and a slim body, however it seemed strong enough to pack a punch. The bat threw itself again at the boy, he jumped out of the way and felt something grasp his back. On the front of its wings it had two sharp claws. They were smalled than its back ones, but they seemed dangerous enough for him. Chung readied his cannon, placing it on top of his shoulder and using its iron sight to line up a shot. However at the moment of pulling the trigger he saw the kid in the bat's claws being shook with its movements. He was afraid to hit the kid if he were to shot. Chung needed to think about something else. However the bat wasn't willing to allow him to think that much. It charged again, flying so low that it left a trail of dust behind.

Instead of dodging again, Chung rose his cannon over his head, ready to block the attack of the giant bat. Its two wing claws clashed with the cannon. He felt a huge force pushing him, almost losing his footing he managed to stay in place. Now that the bat stopped he pushed it with the cannon and made a spin over himself, moving the cannon in an ample swung that ended connecting with the bat side. The creature was launched over its back and Chung jumped over it, throwing his cannon against the ground with all his might. However the bat was quick to get back up. With a flap from its wings, the monster jumped back in the air. It made a roll mid-air to dodge Chung's cannon and used his empty back claw to grab the strap he used to hang the cannon. Doing a second roll, the monster lifted Chung of his feet and launched him over itself. Chung was surprised of the monster strength and found himself flying against the ground.

He shouldn't have rushed putting on his armor. The moment he hit the ground he started rolling at high speed, causing the rushed ties of his chestplate to undone, letting the chest piece of his armor get send of flying. He rolled on the ground until he crashed into the remainings of the stone fence.

The moment he tried getting up, the pain from the impact kicked in. His whole body ached. There was bleeding scratches and abrasions all over his body. Although his arms and legs remained safe inside the armor, his chest was exposed now to the monster's claws. He did what he could to ignore the pain and get back up. The bat was already flying on his direction, he searched for his cannon and found it too far away from him.

Chung waited until the bat was close enough to duck and roll beneath it. The flying creature tried to change its direction, crashing against a tree in the process. Chung ran as fast as he could to his cannon, but was stopped in his tracks when an ear shattering sound struck him. The bat was making a horrible shriek, but it was far beyond annoying, it was literally preventing Chung from moving a single inch. He heard the source of the shriek coming near and had little time to turn around until finally seeing the bat's claws mere inches from his face.

A black spear tip appeared form the corner of his vision. It buried itself into the bat's claw. Causing it to change it's course. Chung was hit by the wing's bones instead of the claw. He fell on his back and searched for the his saviour, and was unsurprised of finding who he was looking for. Eve had just arrived, not sure where she came from, the Nasod landed on top of the stone fence. The bat saw her too, furious for the injuries she made to him, it charged against her.

Chung saw how Moby and Remy moved to their master's back and in a second, Eve was flying in the air, dodging the raging animal's attack. The bat crashed with the stone fence, sending the rocks flying as it circled and came back to another charge. Eve extended her hand, more spear tips appeared around her.

"Wait! You'll hit the girl!" Chung yelled. However to his dread she didn't stopped. The spears were launched against the bat. Two of them passed through its wings, while the third one impaled it on the chest. It wasn't enough to kill it, but at least it was forced to retreat. The bat ceased its attacks and rushed to the inside of the crumbled house. Chung ran behind it, but was suddenly stopped by Eve, who landed in front of him.

"What?! We have to save that girl!" Chung shouted, but Eve raised an arm for him to stop.

"It's too late, the girl is long dead."

* * *

They headed back to the village in complete silence. Chung was feeling down for that poor little girl, but to make things worse, he had to endure his partner attitude about it. Even though Eve went in to rescue the girl, she said that wasn't her original objective. Those words were not only worrying, but infuriating as well. Since the young paladin was raised with such an upright sense of duty he could not stand the fact that Eve didn't accept that quest to save the kid.

"Then why did you took it? Was just for the money? Were you going to take a walk and then return saying that the kid was dead?" Chung asked. The Nasod kept walking for a while, even when Chung continued asking her about it.

"Why did you came?" Eve suddenly asked, interrupting Chung fiftieth attempt at getting an answer from her.

"Why? Well, I was tired of being holed up in an inn all day. Also, you can't expect for me to see something like that and stay in his room. We humans don't do that!"

"Exactly. Think about it: A kid ten years old lost in a forest all the night. What are the odds of her surviving? That's why I knew she was dead. Also, if you ask me why I accept the quest despite knowing that, it was just because of what you did. As you just said, you humans do love getting into trouble. If I hadn't gone in there to confirm she was dead, the man who gave me the quest would end up trying to do it himself, and dying too."

Chung still felt like he should protest, but there wasn't anything to be said. She was right on everything. It was mentally exhausting. The way she says things just make them sound as bad, but yet, he couldn't find a single logical thing to say in that situation. Once they returned to the village, he went straight back to their room. They needed to pack things up to leave that same day, but he was feeling too tired to do that. He plummeted straight in the bed and waited for Eve to came back after reporting to the kid's parents.

"How was it?" He immediately asked the moment she stepped inside the room.

"How was what? I just went and told them about their child. Don't worry, I didn't asked them any money."

He was already regretting not following her. Knowing Eve, she was most likely to not had taken into account the family's feeling about losing a child. He sighed and hoped it all went well.

"Well, I'd say we were a bit unlucky ending up paired up for this quest," Chung said, finally getting out of bed and starting to pack things up.

"What do you mean?" Eve said. She didn't needed to pack anything since her luggage was just her two drones. Apparently she can use the same thing she uses to store her spears to store things like combat suits, or pajamas, whatever the situation requires.

"Oh, don't play dumb now. I'm know you were disappointed knowing that you couldn't pair up with Elsword and had to settle with me."

"I asked to be put on your team for this quest. To be honest, I was happy knowing that I wouldn't have to team up with either Elsword or Aisha. Of course, I appreciate them, but working with them is extremely exhausting. And I wouldn't want to be put in the same team as Raven, although he hides it, I sense a strong animosity from him towards me. And Rena wanted to team up with Raven so… I decided to tag along with you."

He was chosen by an elimination method, but chosen nevertheless. It was weird knowing it, he was sure that their team was put together simply by happenstance. Yet, even when Eve had chosen him, she was still making all she could to ignore and leave him behind, so it wasn't too helpful knowing that.


	3. And new strategy

It was finally weekend. The El Search Party was enjoying a relaxing evening, basking in the sun as they lazily waited for their next assignment to arrive. It was a quiet day, interrupted only by the sound of clashing metal near the camp. Chung and Elsword were doing a sparring match near the river. It was they usual routine, but today felt a bit different. Normally the Hamelian would have kept a somewhat paired score with the redheaded boy, but this time there seemed to be a wide difference between them.

Chung swung his cannon on a vertical, Elsword rose his sword in a diagonal, making the Cannon smoothly slide to the side, missing its target and striking the ground. Chung tried to recover his stance, but a hit from the square shaped sword forced him to drop it, achieving another point to his rival.

"Dude, what wrong with you today?" Elsword asked, walking back to their initial positions for the millionth time today.

"I'm trying to develop a new way of fighting, but It just keeps failing," Chung asked, he sighed as he recovered his cannon from the ground and moved in front of Elsword once again.

"A new way of fighting? Why don't you learn to use runes? I can teach you!" Elsword said, proudly trying to show off his knowledge.

Chung had always wondered how someone as dumb-… as little intelligent as Elsword could manage to memorize and replicate the complicated patterns of the runes he use. Aisha said it was a special talent of the Sieghart family, but he still was amazed at this out of character spike of skill.

"I don't think I can use that Elsword, unlike you, most people need years of training to master the runes." Chung answered back.

"Then, why don't you pair up with the others? You might learn something from them."

It was actually an interesting idea. He always trains with Elsword, and maybe that was related with his inability to develop new skills. He remembered something his father once said about not being complacent with oneself, especially when it comes to training. Just as Elsword said that, Raven appeared. He usually trains with Rena, but today the elf had to travel to the nearby town to get supplies.

"The boy is actually right about it. I think I could give you some insight about your fighting style if you want to spar with me," Raven offered. He smiled and moved aside his black coat to reach for his sword. Chung prepared for it, he knew that the former mercenary was a real veteran. Before being with the crow bandits, he fought countless battles as a Red Knight Mercenary, he was even an high ranking official there. If someone could teach him something, that was Raven.

With that said, the fact that he was also the leader of a dangerous bandit group was a bit unsettling for Chung, causing him a mixture of respect and discomfort whenever Raven was around.

"Prepare yourself!" Raven shouted, pointing his sword at Chung.

He readied his cannon, trying to shot at Raven would be useless given his speed, so Chung prepared it to stop his first strike. Just as he got his cannon in position, Raven was already in front of him. His Nasod arm clenched in a fist clashed with the cannon, sending a shockwave through Chung's arms. Despite the weight of the cannon, he was pushed some steps away. Raven closed the gap again, this time with a swing of his sword. Chung moved the cannon to his left side, resting it's shooting end on the ground, and used his gauntlet to deflect the sword. It scratched the metallic glove creating many sparkles around it. Chung immediately grabbed his cannon and swung it in a upward diagonal that Raven dodged with a backstep. He moved his hands from the lower cannon's handle to the higher and threw the cannon in another diagonal. Raven easily dodged it again and before Chung could manage to swing the cannon again he threw a fast jab at his chest.

The weight of the cannon and the strike made him lose balance and fell on his back. Raven moved his not Nasod hand to his chin and made a thinking gesture.

"You're not wielding that weapon right," The mercenary concluded. Chung raised an eyebrow. He was pretty confident about his ability to wield the Destroyer.

"Why do you think so? I have more than enough strength to use it properly."

"Yeah. That's your problem. Whenever you sway that cannon, you put all your might on every attack. That's fine, as long as you're hitting your target. If your enemy dodges you, then you need to stop the cannon momentum before launching another attack. And if you do it repeatedly, in the end you'll be fighting against yourself rather than your enemies."

Chung hesitated for a bit. He was right. It sounded so simple now that he said it that he blamed himself for not realizing about it before. However, he remembers how every other Hamel Knight would use the cannon with the same, if not more; strength. Not to mention that not using his full force on each attack because they might miss felt a bit like gambling.

"If you strike vertically down, the ground will stop your cannon for you, so you'll be able to use all your strength like that. Your cannon is sturdy enough to do that, after all. And the same if you do it upwards, since the weight of the cannon will be enough to make it go down again," Raven continued with his explanation.

They prepared for another round, keeping Raven's tips in mind Chung felt like he could actually win this one. Just like before, Raven used his incredible speed to gain the initiative. Chung blocked with his cannon Raven's punch, the energy from the strike pushed the cannon to the side. It was his turn to attack. Using what he just learnt, Chung swung his cannon slowly, from side to side. With this little strength the cannon moved a lot slower, however the size of the weapon alone was enough to open a small gap between them. Once he felt there was enough room in front of him, he moved the cannon over his head and dropped it as a hammer over Raven. Although well executed,his attack was easily dodged by the mercenary. The cannon smashed the ground, Chung quickly lifted it. Not having to fight with his own momentum was nice for a change. With the cannon in front of him, he charged against Raven. The mercenary blocked with his arm, but the young boy wasn't going to stop there. He kept pushing against him and it soon became in a strength competition. Both of them advancing a few steps and going back the same amount.

Just as Chung thought he was going to win the competition, the mercenary moved aside, he fell forward and hit the ground.

"Not bad, but you still need to get used to control your strength."

* * *

A new day, and Chung was looking for a new partner. The combat against Raven yesterday gave him something to think about. But for now, he already had something to do. When he woke up that morning, he found a note from someone next to his bedroll.

"Come to the dark forest near the camp for today's training session."

That's what the note said, apparently it was sent by Rena, who was told from Raven that he wanted to improve his skills. Chung was eager to assist to this training. Rena, pretty much like Raven, was a battle honed veteran too. Even if she wouldn't admit her age, it was easy to realize the number of battles she went through.

The dark forest near the camp was a big and thick mass of oaks. The ancients trees grew big leaves that blocked almost all the sunlight even during the day, giving the place a creepy and eerie atmosphere. Once he stepped at the forest entrance, he found another note hung from an arrow. He wondered if Rena was having fun with all the note thing while reading it.

"Let's have a duel, the first one to land a shot on the other wins."

Chung prepared his cannon and headed inside the forest. The thick mass of trees surrounding him obstructed his sight. He tuned his ear, listening to every noise around him, waiting to hear some leaves rustling or a branch cracking, revealing the elf. But the more he tried to listen, the more he became aware of the different sounds of the forest. The wind in the leaves, the small animals running around the bushes, the insects flying from one flower to another…

And then he heard a whistling sound. Before turning to see what it was, he moved his cannon to protect himself. Three arrows made of green crystalline energy crashed into the metallic frame of his cannon, shattering in magical splinters. He moved the cannon over his shoulder and took aim. He wasn't sure where they came from. As he was searching he caught a glimpse of a blonde mane flowing through the threes. Taking aim, he pulled the trigger and a small missile was sent to his supposed target. It exploded and covered the striked area in a blueish smoke. Chung squinted, trying to see if he hit the target. Suddenly, more arrows whistled behind him. Without time to move the cannon again, he threw himself to the ground and rolled out of the way. Several arrows pelted the ground around him, he barely managed to roll out of their way by pure luck and get behind a tree. Unfortunately his Destroyer was left in the middle of the road. Knowing Rena, she would wait for him to go get it to shot at him.

He waited patiently for her next move. Time seemed to slow down as Chung felt defenseless without his weapon. After what seemed like an eternity, he peeked from behind the tree. There was no sign of her. She must be hidden somewhere behind the trees. He slowly walked out of his cover, alert to any movement or sound.

But it came unadvised, the moment he separated from the three, a crystalline arrow hit him on his side. It wasn't painful, since the arrow shattered in magical sparkles when touched him, but the surprise alone was enough to make him jump. The elf laughed as she offered her hand to help him get back up.

"Well, I guess this is your win," He admitted "To be honest, I think it was a bit unfair."

"Why do you think so?"

"My cannon is not fit for this kind of combat, and you're good at hiding yourself." Chung explained.

"I see. Chung, I think you don't know why you lost. Let me ask, did you get trained using your cannon in Hamel?" Rena asked, gesturing for him to follow her outside the forest.

"Of course, everyday father and I would practice with the others in the shooting range."

"There's your problem. Your aiming is pretty good, but you're used to shot at unmoving targets, and what's worse: You don't move yourself. When you're in a fight against another sniper, you can't afford to stay still after you shot. That gives away your position, especially with a weapon as loud as yours. It was easy for me to surround you after every shot."

They exited the forest and headed back for the camp. The sun was already setting and the smell of Aisha's delicious food was reaching them.

"When you're fighting with a ranged weapon you need to plan your positioning. Try to get to the higher ground: rocks, trees, buildings… whatever, and always have a escape route ready to move after any shot. The explosions of your rockets create a lot of smoke, instead of waiting for it dissipate to confirm your target, use that time to move to a new position."

They kept discussing about shooting tactics even during dinner, earning a scolding from Elsword, who was sick from hearing about snipping skills and such.

* * *

As the new day arrived, Chung was eager to try out what he learned with his new partners. Unfortunately that day everyone had something to do. Elsword and Aisha left the camp to attend a meeting at the adventurer guild. Something about a new big quest coming their way. Raven and Rena where having their sparring matches together. After borrowing them from two days, Chung decided it would be better not to bother them now. Which only left a single person available for training.

Chung sighed as he realized the only person he could practice today was Eve. That, if the Nasod decides to train with him to begin with. He looked for her around the camp. And finally found her behind her tent. She was working on one of her machines: the atomic blaster. A large machine gun that shoots energy pellets. A weird weapon for a _queen_.

"Good morning," Chung said waiting for her to answer back. The Nasod kept working on her machine as if no one else were there. "Are you busy right now?"

"As you can see I'm doing maintenance on my weapons." She answered without looking away from her machine gun. Many small pieces of it were spread over a blanket in the ground. There was oil everywhere.

"Yeah, but I was wondering if you would like to train with me…" Chung started to say, but stopped as the Nasod girl halted her work to look at him.

"Why do you want to train with me?" She asked.

"Everyone else is busy right now," Chung said, only to realize that maybe sounded a bit impolite "I mean, I already trained with them so I think I shouldn't abuse their kindness."

Eve sighed.

"To be honest I rather not waste my time doing that. But considering your… lack of ability. After what happened during our last mission, I want to know that you can at least handle basic situations like that."

"Hey! What happened at our last miss-..." Chung protested, but was cut by the endless monologue of the Nasod.

"I believe your main problem lies on your way of thinking. I want to know: What do you think about when you're in combat?"

Chung thought about it. It was a weird question. When he was in combat he thinks about the combat itself. More precisely, he doesn't think about anything in particular. He just lets his training and discipline to take over during battle.

"I suppose by your lack of an answer that you don't think about anything," Eve said. Chung shrugged, not being able to find a better answer that was the better he could give.

"There's many examples of warriors that let their fighting instincts to take over during fight, rushing into battle unfaced by danger or fear. Unfortunately, Chung; you lack the ability or determination to do that. You overthink things, and when you stop thinking, your mind gets locked with the last thought you had. That's why you rushed into danger trying to save a corpse from that giant bat."

"I wish you'll forget about that mission already…" Chung protested.

"When you're in battle, physical skill is not the only factor that would decide who wins or not. Experience and wits are essential to dominate the battlefield. When you engage in combat, you should keep your mind working. Instead of letting your subconscious do the work, you need to keep your brain active. Think about your enemy: what are their weaknesses, their strengths. Think about the place you're in: how can you use it to your advantage…"

"Wait, that sounds nice and all on paper but… How am I supposed to do that while dodging deathly blows?" Chung wondered.

"You own a magnificent armor, or at least you spend a lot of time boasting how good it is. And your main weapon is a long range cannon. You should realize that you have the tools to put yourself out of danger for enough time to think about it. If you want, think about it as _watching the battle as a whole_."

Her words were a bit confusing. She wanted him to think about combat? Conceive strategies during battle?

"Let's have a duel. It seems you learn more easily from practical experience."

Well, that was interesting. He wouldn't have expected her to propose a sparring match on her own. They walked to their makeshift training camps where Rena and Raven where already fighting.

"However, this duel will have a special rule." Eve added as they prepared to fight, her two drones were already in position over her "During this fight, if I get hit in any way, you'll lose."

"What?" Chung asked, believing he misheard her.

"I said that any kind of hit landed on me will result on a defeat for you. You also lose the match if I knock you down. That means that you must find a way to win without it requiring me to be hit."

That was cheating. What kind of duel has rules so weird. And how was he supposed to win if she cannot be hit?

As soon as Eve finished her words, her two drones left their calm iddly stances and flew towards him. One from each side, they charged at him at full speed. Chung swung his cannon against the black one, sending it flying back. Then he turned around and blocked the white one. It made a metallic echoing sound after smashing itself against the cannon. That wasn't enough to stop it. Remy backed a bit and flew higher, attacking Chung from above. He jumped back, avoiding his head to crash into the small drone and searched for the black one. It was nowhere to be seen.

Remy moved in front of Chung again, but remained still, the young boy was wondering why but was answered by something hitting the cannon. He barely managed to raise it in time to block a sharp spear aimed at his side. On the other side of the spear tip was Eve. As expected, she would take advantage of the fact that she couldn't be hit sending her drones in full offensive. It would be easy to attack her now, but he would lose the duel.

"You haven't started thinking yet," She said, summoning a blue portal over her head. A large missile launcher fell through it, landing on her shoulder.

Chung jumped out of the way as a rocket was fired at him. It hit the ground behind him and exploded in a energy ball. He looked at her, she was calmly reloading her missile launcher. What did she meant by that thought?

Chung wondered about it. Remy finished her passive waiting and charged at Chung again. Moby joined it, arriving from behind Chung. He aimed his cannon at the ground and shot. The explosion and the recoil were enough to lift him from the ground. On the air he aimed his cannon horizontally and shot again, using the recoil to fly out of the drones' reach.

Maybe that's why she meant about being able to put himself out of danger. But now that he had the chance to look at it…

 _To watch the battle as a whole_. Her words echoed in his mind. Analyzing her weaknesses and strengths, as well as devising a strategy. What he needed to think now was a way to win. She already stated that doing any kind of harm to her will result in a lose, which means that he can't win like any normal duel.

Moby and Remy came flying towards him, he blocked them both with his cannon and heard something being fired at him. Repeating the same tactic he used his cannon to propel himself out of danger seconds before a missile detonated beneath him.

If he can't win like that, then there must be another way to do it. He was thinking how, but Moby and Remy kept harassing him with their relentless charge.

"The only reason you're having trouble right now is because you're not doing what you're supposed to do. I'm trying to go easy on you so you have time to figure it out."

What he needed to think about was a way of winning. That was the answer. There's two ways of winning a duel: One is to hit your opponent. The other one is making your opponent unable to continue fighting. Considering he couldn't harm her, that meant he must make a situation where she cannot win.

Remy flew around him, trying to distract his guard for Moby to charge in. However, as the black drone flew in an attempt to crash its hull against Chung's head, he was caught mid air. Moby struggled in Chung's hands trying to free itself. Remy assaulted Chung from his back in an attempt to free its partner, but was caught by his other hand. Having captured both drones, Chung looked at Eve, feeling finally victorious. But he found her aiming her missile launcher at him. What was worse, the drones stopped struggling and pushed their engines up. Since Chung wouldn't let them go, they soon managed to lift him from the ground. Eve shot at him, he had to choose letting the two drones go or getting hit.

It was obviously the later. Chung let go of the drones and ducked beneath the whistlying rocket.

"So, what were you thinking about?" Eve questioned, coming closer.

"I thought that if I can't attack you, I could win by making you unable to fight," Chung elaborated.

"Not a bad idea," Eve said, dropping her missile launcher on the ground and leaning over it "But to disarm me you would need to get rid of a really big amount of weapons that I can summon in mere seconds. I wouldn't recommend that strategy."

"Then what should I have done?" Chung asked.

"I hope that you find out before our next duel tomorrow," Eve said, sending her missile launcher through the same blue portal it came from and leaving with her two drones.

* * *

 ** _I apologize for the delay. I also proofreaded this myself but I still think there are some misstakes, my apologies._**

 ** _I hope you're enjoying this story. I never did this pairing before and to be honest I still don't feel really convinced about it. But I'll make my effort to turn this into an enjoyable cheve story._**


	4. Operation start!

_**Sorry for the delay .**_

* * *

"You lose again."

Chung was on the ground. Moby had just crashed into his head again today. The small drone hovered next to him beeping softly as if it were apologizing. Chung got back to his feet with a jump and scratched the newly acquired bump in his head.

"I thought I would get you this time…"

"What was your strategy?" Eve asked, already starting to walk away.

"I thought I could push you out of the ring," He said, running to catch up with her on their way back to the camp.

"That's why you were charging at me? It could work if it weren't because even if you push me out I could just fly inside again without having to touch the ground. I told you that you need to think about your enemy's strengths as well…"

Chung sighed. It's been already a week since they started this daily duel competition and so far he didn't came close to win even once. If only they were fighting normally... He was frustrated, but some of that feeling slipped away when he smelled something delicious. He thought it would be his teammates cooking, but squinting he could see some more people arrived at the camp. In addition to their tents, there was a cart and some horses, as well as a bigger campfire now.

"Hello friends!" An old man saluted them as they arrived. He had an extrange foreign accent "I thank you for letting me stay here, these days the roads are dangerous."

He had lots of gold jewelry all over himself and was wearing some expensive looking silk robes. Blue colored and pretty thin. Also, his sandals where weirdly light. This guy must come from Sander. And the thing that smelled so good was something he must brought with him. It was a big chunk of meat, all diced and pressed together in a stick. It was rotating slowly over the fire. Judging by the size of it, that was going to be everyone's dinner today.

"Hey Chung, you seem depressed," Aisha said, she was getting ready their folding table with Raven's help.

"Well, I lost again today."

"You mean that competition you have with Eve right? Don't worry, you'll get it eventually. You know? I also had to do it once. Eve told me it was important for me so I just agreed."

"Really?! Aisha, how did you managed to beat her?" Chung asked, suddenly grabbing both her hands.

"I'm sorry, Eve asked me to not tell you," She said, freeing her hands with an apologizing smile "Also, don't worry asking anyone else. As far as I know, only you and I went through her test."

Chung sighed. For someone as intelligent as Aisha that test must have been pretty easy. He couldn't help but feel bad about it.

"However I can tell you this. Even if you're not in the ring you're still fighting." Aisha added, before walking away to join everyone else in the dinner table. Chung was left thinking about that. Whatever she meant by being still fighting, was better than anything he had so far. Before joining them at the table he walked inside his tent. He shared it with Elsword and Raven. Each one used the little space inside the tent the best they could. Raven's corner was easily identifiable due to the collection of long blades stacked there. Elsword's workspace was a mess of half written runes and ink and Chung's was a box used as a table filled with grenades and pieces of his cannon. He kneeled in front of the box and searched his bag for pen and paper.

"Still fighting… still fighting…" He said to himself as he wrote down what Aisha said. Waiting for it to magically give him the answer. Or at least wishing it would be that simple. Subconsciously he also wrote under it what Eve said the first day. Staring at the different statements together should help him.

"Still fighting… study their strengths and weaknesses… getting out of danger to think…" He swirled those thoughts inside his mind, hoping for them to connect somehow. And as if someone flipped a switch, he suddenly realized something. "I get it!" He shouted out loud. He should use the time outside the duel to learn more about his rival. That must be what Aisha meant about still fighting. He exited the tent, taking with him the notebook. He scanned the camp until finally seeing his target. Eve was sit next to the campfire, unlike everyone else who was at the folding table having dinner with the Sander merchant. She had one of the dishes the foreign man prepared. A bunch of roasted diced meat mixed with vegetables and rolled inside a thin layer of bread. It smelled delicious and Chung would regret not having any, but his mission was of higher priority. He slowly moved closed to the Nasod girl and stared at her.

"They're going to hit you if you keep staring like that for long," Eve said, startling Chung. He looked around and saw Moby and Remy floating over him with disapproving looks on their hulls.

"Ah, I apologize, I… erm, wanted to ask if I could sit there," He said, pointing at one of the logs near the campfire.

The Nasod Queen ignored him, after a short hesitation Chung finally sat next to her. The warm campfire felt good on the early winter night. For a while he just sat there, not saying nothing and wondering if he should ask her about something in particular. He did come to know her weaknesses but maybe she won't be willing to talk about that.

"I saw you talking with Aisha. I guess she told you about our past duel right?" Eve said, still not looking at him.

"Not really, she said you asked her to keep it a secret."

"I see. I wasn't expecting her to keep that promise, considering how beaten up you look about it… Anyway, I think you should start worrying about something else," Eve said, and for the first time she took her eyes away from her food to look at the confused boy "I heard that Rena bested you in ranged combat. I heard so many stories about the legendary Hamellian cannoneers that it was kind of a let down. I wonder what those legendary snipers would think about their descendant being beaten by an elf."

Chung didn't said nothing, although he felt like if someone had just stabbed him with a very thin dagger in the ribs.

"Also, Raven told me you're having trouble with your melee abilities. To be honest, if you can't even manage to swing that thing around why would you even carry it with you?" She added, before resuming her eating.

"Hey, I think you're exaggerating things. You're saying this as if Raven or Rena were some kind of newbies," Chung protested. Apparently Eve was again ignoring him. He waited in this awkward silence until she finished her dinner.

"I know how skilled they are, you don't need to tell me. That's why I'm allowing you to train with me. After watching you, I came to the conclusion that if you don't stand out in ranged or melee, maybe you would do in brains," She said, wiping her mouth and leaving her plate aside. She stood up and walked her way to her tent, before disappearing through the entrance she added: "Why don't you take a rest from our daily duel and try to improve in other way?"

* * *

Chung woke up the next morning feeling weird. Maybe he ate too much of the Sander's merchant food or he was just feeling bad about the thought that plagued his mind all night. He definitely became complacent. As soon as he managed to get over his sluggish sleepiness, he dressed up to train. Starting today, he should start a new training routine, to steel both his mind and body. It's an old habit that he kind of forgot due to the excess of _easy_ missions.

He prepared his gear, armor and cannon included; and left his tent already jogging. There was a path surrounding the camp that he intended to follow. As he was going outside the camp, he saw Eve and Aisha wearing thick capes. The early winter weather was already chilly, but not quite enough for those clothes.

"Where heading out for a quest," Aisha said when she saw him running "We will be out for a while so make sure to stay out of trouble."

Chung waved at them as a goodbye and continued his jogging. How long would they be out? Until now, the longest mission they had taken on a small group was barely two weeks long. But, whatever the time they would take; he still had to train. He made sure to pass near Raven and Elsword to let them know he would be jogging around the camp and focused on his new training route.

His schedule was to run the whole morning, then spend the evening training his strength, and then doing maintenance and preparation before sleep. He should take some time to make a paper version of it, with the time more properly divided. And he should also try to get Raven and Rena to train with him whenever they could.

The first days of training passed fast. Chung realized how out of shape he actually was, and thankfully he started to get his build back. The first day he jogged all morning he thought he was going to die of tiredness. But the next day felt a bit better, except for the stiffness he woke up with the next day. For the strength training, he managed to create a makeshift pair of dumbbells with some sticks and rocks. It was going fine and the exercise was having a therapeutic effect on him since now he wasn't as worried as before about his state.

He also managed to have Raven and Rena train with him. Despite how happy they were to train with their friend, it made Chung kind of bad about interrupting their own routine. Since his ability with the cannon was already pretty good, Rena spent their time training teaching Chung some advanced ranger skills, like how to get the advantage in different terrains, how to correctly position yourself in a battlefield or how to attack and move while being undetected. Things that were easy for a bow user, but pretty challenging for his big and noisy cannon.

Even though, his time with Raven wasn't any easier. The mercenary wanted him to learn how to avoid getting locked during a battle. Since his weapon was so large and slow, it would be too easy for a quick enemy to take advantage of it. They set a rule for their duels stating that Chung couldn't get hit even once or he'll lose. Raven constantly encouraged him to learn when to fight and enemy or how to properly disengage a combat once the advantage was in the enemy's hands.

"Remember that disengaging combat is not the same as retreating. You need to keep your position in battle in mind all the times, and learn when to attack or not."

He also teach Chung how to use that to his advantage, using his ranged weapons to attack an enemy and immediately retreating, forcing enemies to break formation and getting tired from the pursuit. Raven called that strategy _hit'n'run harassment._

Days passed, the hard training went on. He started to feel like he was back at home. His old self was back again. He was no longer tired from running with his armor and weapon on, and the battles with his new tutors now were a real duel, instead of a desperate struggle. He was able to win some of them across the way, and was slowly beginning to understand the difference between his old training courtyard and a real fight. A priceless lesson that you don't learn at home.

One morning, he was running around the camp as usual when he saw someone he wanted to see from a long time now. Covered in a white winter cape he saw Aisha in the distance, followed close by Eve. Both of them were finally coming back from the quest. He realized now that a lot of time has passed since they went out. Such a long quest, it must have been hard for them. He interrupted his training to go welcome them at the camp.

"You're back," Elsword said, coming out of his tent to receive the two girls "I guess you want to go rest."

"No. We need to speak." Eve bluntly said, shoving the red knight back inside the tent, followed by Aisha.

Chung didn't had time to say nothing. He decided to not interrupt them, maybe they'll want to go rest as soon as they give the report from their quest.

* * *

"So that is the situation, the quest remains uncompleted." Eve finished her report. Elsword kept a straight face during the entire speech. Rena, who also arrived in the middle of it stayed to hear about it. Eve looked at Aisha who was sit behind her, still with her winter cape on, her nose and cheeks were red from the cold. Winter had just arrived, and the place where they had set camp was pretty nice, but even that wasn't able to warm her yet. Eve, on the other hand, had removed her winter clothing. Her skin seemed unaffected by the cold she just got out off.

"Then we'll have to make a new plan… Now, go rest the two of you. Rena, please take care of Aisha, she looks like she's about to turn into an snowman or something," Elsword said. Aisha was so cold that she didn't bothered answering to him and headed out followed by Rena. Eve stayed inside the tent a little longer "Aren't you going to rest?"

"No. I have something to do before."

* * *

Chung walked the path to the usual training ground. It's been a long time since he last tried doing this. Eve was already waiting for him. He was still doing his exercises when Eve intercepted him and asked to have their old usual duel. But this time Chung could feel like he at least had a chance. All this time training he didn't forgot about the complicated duel Eve had proposed to him some time ago. He spent a lot of nights thinking about it, and trying to devise a strategy using what he learned from Raven and Rena. All this time practicing was going to put to the test here.

Eve was waiting for him, with her arms behind her back in a firm pose with her legs slightly separated. The evening sun reflected on her synthetic eyes as if she was wearing sunglasses. Chung thought she was only missing a hat to be identical to the drill instructor he had back at Hamel. An old man who would yell at him for everything.

"Before we start, I need to ask you something," Chung said, getting into position on his side of the training ground.

"Whatever thing you need to ask make it quick, I'll let you know that this will be the last time I'll be training you."

"I should have asked this before coming up with my strategy but, will I lose if I abandon this area?" Chung said, gesturing with his arms for the entire training ground.

"If you mean abandoning the duel, then yes. Otherwise, I never told you to limit yourself to this place," She answered.

So as he thought he was missing some information about the duel. No doubt he couldn't make any progress back then, but that was a good thing. He could put his strategy to practice this way. Right next to the training grounds was a forest that he had been using for practice with Rena all this time. Eve raised a hand, getting his attention. Her arm went down and the duel started. As expected Moby and Remy were already on their way charging at him.

But he didn't allow the drones to distract him. He had an strategy in mind that he runned on his imagination countless times by now. All should go according to plans. Before the two drones reached him, he smashed his cannon on the ground and unloaded a shot. It exploded right beneath him, creating a wall of smoke. The drones cutted inside the smoke, shoving it away with their sharp blades. But they couldn't find Chung there. Eve looked around and above, the white paladin was nowhere to be seen.

It was one of the first lesson he had to learn with Rena. She called it hiding in plain sight. During a battle, people is not able to notice every little detail around then, allowing for places that usually won't be able to hide you to become perfect shelters. He was right behind a tree, it was actually fair easy to spot his cannon poking out of the top.

When you disappear in front of someone during a fight, that enemy will be taken by surprise and will immediately start searching for you, however that rushed search will be full of holes. This brief moment of confusion is crucial, as you can move around them with easy. It only last for a few seconds, when your rival can't find you, they'll manage to calm down and look around more carefully. But he had more than enough. He was now near the forest border.

Chung leaped from his cover, shouting at Eve who was scanning the area around her. She looked at him before Chung pulled the trigger of his cannon, using the recoil from the shot to fly into the forest.

This was the second part of the strategy. He landed on a tree and secured his position. He already knew the area, and was aware of the different paths that could allow him to move around. An advantage he wouldn't usually have in a real fight. Eve also entered the forest flying through the trees' leaves. She landed in the ruinous stone path that crossed the forest and began searching for him. Her drones weren't with her, which meant that they would be looking on their own.

Everything was going as predicted. He waited for her to wander a little deeper into the forest and then positioned himself near her. He was on top of a rock formation next to the path. Without her seeing him, he shooted next to her. Another shell exploded, raising a cloud of smoke and dust. She waited inside the cloud patiently, knowing that he couldn't hit her. Once it dissipated, she started searching for him again. But as she was following the trail of where she thought the shell came from, another one exploded behind her.

This was just a diversion to make his target frustrated. Then he changed to his new strategy. Mimicking what he just did, he unloaded more shells around her, intentionally making the last one a bit slower, just enough for her to see him. She immediately called her drones, coming out of the smoke. Chung leaped in the air and used his cannon again to get away. One of the basics of hit'n'run strategy was to let the enemy think they'll be able to catch you, otherwise they'll leave the fight.

Every time he would leave her behind, Chung would come back and repeat Rena's strategy of firing from different angles, and then start running again. He repeated this cicle many times now. Usually, this strategy wouldn't work on a Nasod. As Eve said they can endure even several days without sleep, as long as they have energy. But she just arrived from a quest, and judging from the fact that Aisha went straight to bed, it must have been tiring. She should be at least a little tired. He hoped this strategy would make up for the rest.

Since he wasn't able to hit her, the best thing he can do to win is making her forfeit the match. Simply making her stop fighting wouldn't work, her arsenal of weapons and skills is way too big for him to nullify. However, maybe her patient wasn't so big.

"I see you're trying to make me stop fighting. Is a clever strategy, but I wonder if you covered all the holes it has…" Eve said once Chung started repeating his multi angle attack. She called her drones to her side and they circled around her legs. A flash of light enveloped her and the next thing Chung saw were thousands of little metal needles flying in every direction. He was barely able to hid behind a tree. The sound of small stakes being driven into the tree's bark reminded him of that dreadful weapon. Although it's power was greatly diminished when used over such a long distance, it was more than enough to make him fail the duel. And considering how far he managed to go with the strategy, being defeated by such a small thing would be devastating.

"I told you to keep in mind your rival's skills and capacities too, didn't I?" Eve said, returning to her search. She looked around for a bit. There was total silence on the forest now. She waited for a bit and finally sighed "However, you did fine until here. And to be honest, I think it's the best you can do against the rules I designed for you. We could keep this up for many time, but I'll spare you the effort, since we ran out of time. I declare you the winner of the duel."

Chung waited for her to continue. For all he knew this could be some kind of cheat. It wasn't until he heard the sound of her heels abandoning the stone path that he finally decided to came out.

"Congratulations, you proved that your head is not totally empty. Now follow me, there's something really important we need to discuss."

Chung followed her, happy with his victory. A smile slowly creeped over his face. The two small drones flew in front of him. The black one was happily beeping at him, while the white one made what looked like a bow.

"To be honest, I thought you would be happier," Eve said, flipping her hair.

* * *

"Now then I'll proceed to explain the operation."

Night has fallen and they gathered around the fire in the camp. The chilly winter wind could be felt at this time, but being by the fire was much nicer than staying inside the tents. Aisha's skin already recovered her soft pink appearance, and she also removed her winter clothing. Everyone else was expectantly waiting for Elsword to disclose their next quest.

"As you may know, Eve and Aisha left some weeks ago in a quest that was sent by a nearby village. They said that an anomalous weather suddenly appeared in the mountain next to the village," Elsword explained. He made a pause to check if everyone was following him "They finally arrived today, however they were unable to fulfill their quest."

"As we told Elsword earlier, the situation in the mountain is far worse than we initially thought," Eve continued, prompting Elsword to sit back and let her explain "Our starting theory was that this incident was being caused by some kind of spell. However, after exploring the area ourselves we became aware that this anomaly is far more powerful than a simple spell."

"And what anomaly is this?" Raven asked. It was Aisha the one who answered this time.

"A blizzard. Which makes it weird is the fact that the snow, winds and everything else seems to be attached to the higher part of the mountain. As if some kind of barrier was preventing it from escaping."

"And why did they call for help if the blizzard was kept in the mountain?" Chung asked.

"The snow melted and flooded their farms, also it seems to be attracting some strong monsters. They're afraid that things get any worse if they leave it alone." Elsword elaborated.

"Our mission remains the same. We have to go into the blizzard, find out what's causing it, and stop it. Our new plan is to gear up and have two teams head into the area. We'll divide in two teams of three," Elsword explaining, bringing up a list with the teams for the quest "Aisha and Eve will be heading into the blizzard again. Being the ones who did before, it'll be the best. Chung, you'll be going with them. Raven, Rena and I will be staying in the village."

"Sending all of us inside the blizzard would be a big mistake, if we were to get trapped inside we wouldn't have anyone outside to help us. We also need someone to protect the village from those large monsters that are being drawn by the storm…" Raven said. Elsword nodded at him, he wouldn't have said it better.

"And why I'm the one heading into the mountain?" Chung asked. He wasn't complaining about having to go in there, but rather the fact that he would have to work with the Nasod again. If this mission was so dangerous that all six of them were going, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be in the same team as her.

"I'll explain that," Eve said "As Elsword said, Aisha and I already know the area, however is important to consider the fact that this blizzard has a deadly cold with it. I am more resistant to the cold than any of you, and Aisha has her magic to protect herself. However, from the rest of you, you're the best candidate to survive up there. Being born in Hamel, you must be used to the water and ice magic."

Well, it was true that Hamelians stand the cold better than anyone else, but that's only applicable to chilly winds or cold nights. Not a whole snowy storm. But since nobody else was questioning it, he guessed he should agree with it.

"Also, you and Aisha are the only ones who passed my special training. Which mean that I'll be able to trust you and your skills during the quest," Eve added, before sitting again.


	5. A hard arrival

**_Here it is. This time I didn't take long, and I'm really glad about that. I hope you enjoy this:_**

* * *

A large crop field was the first thing you could see when approaching Idlum Village. A small settlement located at a valley next to Silver Mountain. One of the tallest mountains in Lurensia, known for the abundant silver that was extracted from it years ago until the miners depleted the whole place of the valuable metal. Now only small villages remained surrounding the whole mountain chain. Above the crop field, built in a small elevation on the plateau; was Idlum.

A small amount of houses and other buildings surrounding a grey plaza. From the distance it was hard to tell if there was people in it or not. The roads that lead into the village were in real bad shape, as if no one had transited them for years. Even though, It only took them some hours from their camp to arrive at the destination. Most of the buildings were made with uncut stone, covered in mosh and with a brownish color, acquired from years of mountain weather. Instead of pointy roofs, the villagers decided to make then like a square, covering the ceiling with the same rocks that they used in the walls. Each house had only one or two windows with no glass, and they were small enough to have only one room as the full house.

"I wonder if these people considered the idea of moving from here, rather than asking for help…" Raven said, whipping the horses that pulled their carriage across the crop field.

"Don't be like that. I think that this place is very… picturesque," Rena said, struggling to find something good to say about the place.

"Yeah, I guess people could find reasons to live even in this shithole," Elsword said, patting Raven's shoulder which caused Rena to sigh in exasperation "I mean, these people doesn't even have bathrooms in their houses, do you know what it means right?"

Elsword was interrupted by Aisha, who smacked him from behind. He laughed it off, going back to his lazy way of lying in the back of the cart.

"We're not going somewhere nicer either, so stop complaining," She said. Hearing that, Chung looked up the mountain.

There it was, the anomaly that caused all this trouble. It was so unnatural that he was surprised they didn't see it on their way here. The upper half of the mountain was covered in a strange blizzard; strong winds and thousands of snowflakes flew around the mountain in an almost beautiful dance. But as they were about to fly away from the formation, a mysterious force would push them back, shaping the strong blizzard as a sphere around the mountain. Due to the amount of snow, the white winds that blew in every direction made it impossible to see anything farther than the surface of the storm. Thinking about venturing into that thing was something that already made him feel a cold drop running through his spine.

Their cart finally arrived at the small plaza. The place was totally empty. Not a single soul in sight. They called for someone, yet received no answer.

"Well, that's a lame welcome for this place saviors…" Elsword complained, jumping off the cart and starting to look around, knocking on doors and peeping through windows.

"Something is wrong… this place is too calm," Raven said, reaching for his blade and preparing for anything.

They started to look around the place with their weapons in hand, carefully checking every corner. So far they didn't find anything. The village's appearance was now even more worrying. You could see all kinds of abandoned items around the place. As if everyone were on the streets minding their business when something suddenly made them disappear. From farming tools to food, everything was resting on the roads around the village. Everything looked recently used.

They hadn't left the plaza yet when Aisha heard a weird growl coming from a small alley between a couple of houses. She slowly moved along the narrow space and looked around the corner. It lead into a larger backyard, where she saw the reason for nobody to be around. A large hairy beast was there. Crouched, biting into something on the ground. As if alerted from her arrival, the monster turned its head towards her. It had a wolf head, with large ears and red bloodshot eyes, with the difference that it had really large fangs, big enough to show through its lips. They were also stained in blood, probably from the thing it was holding. She could see the lifeless body of a red guard. The small parts that were uncovered by the armor were in a state too horrible for her to describe. She backed away as the monster started to stand on its back two feet almost as tall as the house next to him. It roared at her, alerting everyone in the plaza. The monster leaped from its position towards the mage, who was quick enough to disappear in a flash of light. Safely teleporting back to the plaza. It didn't last long as the monster seemed to have picked up her trail. It jumped over the house as if it were nothing more than a pebble landing in the middle of the plaza.

With no time for words, they quickly moved around the creature, weapons at the ready; surrounding the monster. Aware of the new creatures in the area, the hairy beast howled at them. The sound it made wasn't anything like a wolf's howl. It was a torn roar, directed right at them. It didn't wait for them to attack it, it immediately jumped in front of him, were Rena was. The elf drew her bow, magical green arrows appeared on the mystical string. With a skillful backflip, Rena avoided the beast's claws at the same time she landed some arrows on it. However, they merely bounced of the thick fur. Unfaced by the puny arrows, the monster swung its claws again. Rena ducked beneath them before jumping out of the way gracefully moving from a low fence onto a tree branch and finally reaching the safety of the nearest building's roof.

Although the creature could have easily reach for her, it instead moved away from the building. This time it looked around, stopping his eyes on Chung who hadn't still moved from his place. The beast charged at him at incredible speed. Chung pulled the trigger on his cannon and small rockets flew towards the monster. Blue explosions detonated around its head, engulfing it in a cloud of smoke. It lasted short, as the monster leaped from withing the cloud. Chung saw the deadly flash of a claw flying to his face soon enough to just backpedal in time. He felt a strong gust of wind kicked up by the seer strength of the best, followed by some golden strands of hair that were just cut of his head. The monster started swinging both arms at him. Chung rose his cannon to protect himself, the cannon served well as a shield and stopped its hand. The nails hitting the cannon made an horrible metallic sound, as if they were made out of metal. The monster hitted the cannon again, sending Chung flying backwards. It was about to jump on top of him again, but suddenly a blue light followed by a large ice shard struck it in the chest. Pretty much like everything else, it shattered upon impact. However, it drew its attention. The monster was now angrily looking at Aisha, who was still casting her next spell.

It wasn't going to wait for her. Forgetting about Chung, it jumped over the mage. Aisha remained still in place, even when the large creature was about to torn her to shreds. Suddenly, a blinding flash crossed all around the monster back, ending with a pointy sword being driven on its back, Raven had managed to reach the monster with his overwhelming speed. The creature roared in pain and started to move around violently, unable to reach the place were Raven had landed with his sword with its claws; as it attempted to throw Raven away from its back. Feeling that it was unsuccessful, the monster suddenly jumped in a frontflip, smashing its back against the ground. To everyone surprise, Raven was still holding there, visibly injured; however the creature only managed to sink more the sword on it's back. It was about to repeat the maneuver when a bunch of black spear tips flew into its face. They got tangled on the fur around its neck and fell off without delivering a single blow, all except one. It hit the monster's fangs, causing a horrifying noise and cracking the teeth surface. The monster seemed even more angry, however it had moved one of its claws to its mouth. The Nasod landed before it and prepared a new batch of spears to be thrown at it.

Not having any of it, the beast charged to the front, trampling anything that would dare stay in its path. Eve managed to jump out of the way. As the monster reached the plaza's border, it threw itself against the wall, slamming its back into it. They all looked in agony, fearing for the state of their friend. Incredibly enough, Raven was still holding his sword. His Nasod arm had deployed what looked like a defensive shell around him, absorbing almost all of the impact. However it was easy to realize from the blood crossing his face that Raven was on a tight spot.

It was about to repeat itself again when Aisha finally finished casting her spell. Like before, a blue flash of light preceded a large shard of ice. This time followed by many more, as they poured over the monster. The creature instinctively shielded its face from the haul of projectiles, but they weren't aimed at that. They started hitting the ground beneath it, slowly forming a pool of frozen water. It grew over the beast's back legs until the sudden rain finally stopped. The monster tried to move, but the ice kept it tied into place. Raven took that opportunity, he pulled out the sword and prepared to stab it again. Pouring all he had on the Nasod arm, he downed the sword in the monster's back, successfully piercing through the thick fur and reaching a soft and squishy thing. A river of red blood emerged from the new injury, confirming Raven's attempt at striking it's heart.

It was finally dead.

The monster crumbled, moving its weight from one leg to another on its final rattle before finally falling dead. Raven was quick enough to jump out of the monster's back before being crushed for the third time. Now that his partners get close to him, they saw his injuries were far more worse than they looked at first. His human arm was hanging lifelessly in an unsettling angle, as if the elbow was broken or out of place. Blood and dust stacked all around his face and neck, were his expression showed how he was trying hard to stay awake.

"Raven!" Elsword was the first person reaching towards him. He threw his Nasod arm over his own shoulders, as heavy as it was; and carried him towards the cart. Everyone else gathered around, not sure what to do about him.

"You need treatment. Those injuries are just superficial, I believe there could be more worrying damage under your skin," Eve said, moving next to the speechless mercenary and starting to examine his ragged skin.

"Where are we going to find such treatment?" Rena asked, looking around desperately, hoping to see anything that looked like any kind of healing source.

They were so focused on their friend that didn't noticed the old man that had cautiously left his house and had made his way towards them. "D-Did you kill that thing?" He nervously asked. The group looked at the old man. He was dressed in a black robe. A grey beard and thick frowns covered almost all of his face, and a black wool hat covered the rest of his head. His lips were really wrinkled, and trembled in hesitance before saying something more "We can help your friend. We have a doctor there," He said, pointing at the house he just came out of.

It was the largest house of them all. A two story building, with the same raw stone design; that was in the opposite end of the plaza. They could see some more people looking at them through the door.

"Oh, it's you, Chief Morgan!" Aisha suddenly said once she could finally see the old man "This person is the boss around here, I remember him from the last time we were here. I told you we would be back, Chief Morgan. We can trust him."

Not like they had any other choice. Trusting him or not, they had to handle Raven to them. They took him to a separated building, this one had a white line of tiles surrounding the ceiling. Maybe to imply it was the local clinic or something. A man wearing an old looking white coat began examining him. Although the injuries were ugly, he said Raven wasn't in danger. However he would need a long time to recover.

"Perfect, and we were already underhanded…" Elsword complained, getting out of the clinic. Rena stood next to Raven during the examination, even after hearing the doctor she was still worried about Raven. "And what the hell was that thing?"

Both Aisha and Chung shrugged at his question. They returned to the beast body, which was still laying in the plaza. Not a single one of the villagers seemed willing to touch it. Unlike Eve, who was using her drones to take a look at it. Or how she calls it: scanning.

"This creature is like nothing I've seen before. It has the constitution and aspect of a wolf. But the fact that it moves on two legs, the long nails and fangs… Also, the bones and muscles seem different from a wolf. Not to mention it's incredible strength and toughness…"

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid we'll be seeing more of these this days…Do you think it could have something to do with the storm up there?" Elsword questioned, pointing with his thumb at the blizzard.

"It's not a possibility I can disregard," Aisha explained "Mighty creatures often feel attracted to sources of great powers…"

"You said this thing was devouring a red knight right? Did you knew about him." Elsword asked, walking away the corpse.

"Officer Pliskin, a red knight posted here as the only representative of the local government," Eve clarified "He wasn't here to fight even, his work was to make sure everything was fine and write a monthly report."

They stared at each other. The mission they were here to fulfill was being annoyingly delayed. Sending the three of them up the mountain will mean leaving only Elsword and Rena to protect the village. And now that they had an encounter with the local fauna, that seems to be specially dangerous. And they don't even know what could be waiting up there. It could even be a pack of these creatures.

Their original plan was to start their ascend as soon as getting to the village, but considering what just happened they decided to take a night to rest and made a new plan. The commodities offered by the village people were nice, but all they could offer was just one of the empty houses. It turns out that they only have one room, and the ceiling and walls are pretty windy. They wondered how this people could live in such a harsh place, specially when Elder was so near. The house's flat was made of dirt, and the only furniture inside was a stone slab under a hole in the ceiling, apparently; it was a chimney.

"I'm pretty sure this people like this live style. They been here for centuries after all…" Rena said, leaving a handful of harvested wood on top of the stone slab "At least the place where Raven is is a little comfier."

"This place, as sad as it is;" Eve started to say "Is a lot nicer to where we are going. So I could appreciate if you cast aside your annoying complains and focus on redesigning our plan."

"The situation is," Elsword immediately followed up, leaving litting up the fire to Rena "Raven is out of commission. That means that only two of us are ready to defend the village. To make things worse, we already discovered that the monsters that anomaly is attracting can be very powerful."

"I suggest one of us stays here as back up," Eve said.

Chung and Aisha immediately jumped in to complain.

"Are you trying to get away and remain here next to the fire?" Chung complained. Although he was complaining, he actually was thinking that it would be nicer to go into the mountain with anybody else but the actual Ice Queen.

"Are you insane? Two people alone in that monstrosity of a storm?" Aisha argued, she seemed to have something more to say than that.

"As I was saying, I want Aisha to remain here with you. The reasons are as they follow:" Eve answered, without looking at the two complaining companions "The previous time we were here, Aisha couldn't realise how dangerously low her body temperature was dropping until I noticed it,"

Hearing that, Aisha immediately shut up, Chung could see her cheeks getting an embarrassing red color.

"On the other part, since we already established that the nature of this storm is magical, we'll need her to dispel it. However, that doesn't mean we have to carry her through an expedition. If something goes wrong the mission would be caput. What we can do, is to scout the area first, find the source, secure a route to it and bring her later, making the dispel ritual much more faster and safer."

Elsword was focused on her words. It didn't sound bad at all. Having Aisha down there, helping them with the large beasts, would be a huge help. But now the problem was sending only two people up the mountain. It was true that a smaller group could be best to avoid unnecessary injuries, however if they have any kind of emergency they would be on their own, with no one to cover their backs.

"Chung? What do you think about it? Since you'll be the one going with her, you should give you opinion too,"

What he thought? He was thinking that it was going to be a horrible pain to go into another mission with her alone. And this time they would be in her natural environment: a gelid and dangerous mountain. On the other side, she did said that he was the only one she could trust this quest, aside from Aisha. But he was still feeling like that was going to be a pain. The moment they would be alone, she would be back to her _lone-wolf elitist-egocentric_ self and just leave Chung at the first corner she could to go on alone.

"I have one request. If we do this, I want to be in charge up there. And she'll have to listen to me." He said. It wasn't much, but at least he could ask her to not do anything stupid or reckless. Elsword looked at her waiting for an answer.

"Fine," Eve said with a sigh "But if I feel like you're not taking the right decisions I'll decide what to do."

Being in charge of a team of two where one of them would do as they please if they think he was not doing a good work. Still better than nothing, or so he thought.

* * *

 ** _So the next chapters are going to have only Eve and Chung as characters, which is really good since it'll be easier to keep track of them. I hope you're enjoying this 3_**


	6. White Hell

Morning at a mountain village is way more lively than the El Search Party had expected. Just as the first sun rays started to shine in the horizon, everyone was ready with their farming tools to start working. The large fields around the village, along the animals they kept; were the only source of food for this people. Which means that early in the morning there's only few people staying in the village. It didn't matter much, since the village didn't had any kind of wall protecting it, but for the purpose of protecting that people, Aisha and Rena would prefer them to stay in the village for the meantime. Which probed to be impossible since they assured that not harvesting the fields before winter came would be as deadly as those monsters.

However, the villagers weren't the only ones awakening to a lively morning. Chung was also going through one heck of a morning. The first thing he saw when waking up was a backpack flying onto his face. Eve was ready even before he had his breakfast, and she could be seen waiting impatiently at the door of the house they were using. So far it was already one of those days Chung would have preferred to stay in bed, and they haven't entered the blizzard yet.

After his rushed breakfast he decided to pack everything he would be needing up there before Eve got any more angry. The villagers were kind enough to lend them winter clothing. They were thick clothes made of linen and filled with cotton. A warm and comfy way to survive the cold. With the clothes they also got a cute wool cap and a long scarf. Both of them seemed to have been made with love.

"We'll be following the same path Aisha and I used the last time. It'll take us one hour to reach the anomaly border. Once there, you'll be in charge of this operation as you wanted." Eve said once she saw Chung finally ready. She gestured with her head towards another backpack resting at the corner of the room. It was the usual set of camping and survival gear they usually carry with them when going on long missions. Chung guessed he would be carrying it too so he just put it on his back and headed outside. In comparison to him, Eve was carrying far less luggage. As she said, as long as she keeps her core at the right temperature, it would keep the rest of the body warm. Even knowing that, Chung already admitted that seeing his partner heading into a blizzard wearing a miniskirt was going to be really painful.

"Why don't you carry something more? Even if you only have to care about your core it's a bit weird going into the snow like that," Chung said. He was going to stay as quiet as he could for the entire mission but it was already starting to be awkward.

"I prefer to not be burdened by unnecessary clothing."

And that was all the chatting they had. The way up the mountain was a lot easier than expected. Being used by the locals as pastures for their animals, there was many paths and roads leading almost everywhere. As long as you know where you were going, it was easy to follow a path upwards. However, looking up at the spherical anomaly, one could feel hesitance about entering it. Watching it from up close was more worrying than anything else. The winds were so strong that they could already feel a chill going down their spine. The snow was so intense that it was impossible to see anything beyond the external barrier, not to mention the white fog emanating from the sphere. The inside was so cold that it even escaped the magical barrier.

"As I thought, the anomaly is growing. It was smaller when I left this place with Aisha, and now I see that it's diameter grew for approximately ten meters." Eve said. It was the first thing she said in the morning that wasn't a complain, so Chung welcomed it. But he didn't know what to answer however.

"Do you think it would grow until swallowing the village?" He asked, hoping to not have triggered any of the many landmines that the Nasod has in her head.

"Aisha told me that keeping such a big barrier is incredibly hard. If the anomaly is expanding means that the blizzard is about to break it. If that happens, who knows how far the effects would spread."

The image of a balloon full of icy water blowing up appeared inside Chung's head. Who would know something so dangerous would be in this remote place? Eve stopped in the middle of the road and she pointed towards a group of trees. Squinting, Chung was able to see what looked like an entrance to a cave in there.

"That cave will take us inside the anomaly without having to cross the border. It's the most dangerous place so I suggest we use it." Eve said. Chung nodded and both of them headed for the cave.

It was a small aperture on the mountain surface. From the entrance you could already hear the winds blowing strong in the other side, and you could already feel the white chilly fog coming out of it. Chung stopped to get the winter gear on. He may have tried it before going out. Putting so many layers of thick clothes over his armor was a lot harder than expected. While trying to get his leg through the pants, he looked at Eve, who had already finished getting ready. All she did was put on some kind of poncho with a scarf. Chung sighed and finally managed to get all his layers of winter clothing on. However, due to the armor beneath it and the clothes thickness he was having trouble to move and to get his arms closer to the body.

"I look like an idiot," Chung said.

"You'll be grateful once those clothes keep you alive."

They headed into the cave. Moby and Remy moved in front of their master and lighted the way in front of them with their led lights. The path was wet and mossy, and went all the way up into darkness. Chung coughed looking at Eve and she gestured at Moby with a sigh. The black drone moved in front of Chung to light his path as well. The rocky surface of the cave covered in moss made their ascend a lot harder than it should. For each step Chung was able to make towards the goal, a slip on the wet moss would make him loss three steps. It wouldn't be so frustrating if it weren't for the being right next to him, slightly hovering over the ground, looking at him as if he were failing the most simple of the tasks. After slipping for who knows many times, he finally resigned to ask for her help.

"You know, we would be already on the top if you gave me a hand…"

"May I remind you that if you intend to be the captain of this operation you should be already thinking about these kind of measures?" She annoyingly pointed out before commanding the black drone to help him out. The small flying machine moved behind him and pushed Chung. With the surprisingly strong help from the drone, Chung was able to somewhat move up. But that was only the beginning of many hardships. Once the cave became more leveled and the way up became easy, they started seeing snow and ice forming on the sides of the cave. The wind howling became stronger, telling how close they were from the exit.

"Be careful, there are deep ravines on this cave. If you slip and fall into one of them, even I won't be able to pull you up," Eve said.

The snow piled on the walls and floor became larger with every turn they made. Several cracks on the ceiling filtered water that formed frozen puddles on the ground, while they started seeing the snow being blown inside the cave by the wind. The stone walls quickly changed into an ice blue tunnel. Chung was already feeling the cold trying to get into his suit. As he was walking, a small mountain of snow that he stepped close to it suddenly moved, sinking and falling into an abyss, revealing a chasm that would have been his tomb had he stept just a meter to his right. He stood there speechless looking into the dark deeps of the hole that just appeared before Eve looking at him with the "I warned you" look in her eyes.

They proceeded feeling extra wary of the place. Another turn and they finally were able to see what looked like the exit. A white light at the end of the bluish tunnel promising them a safe route into a gelid hell. The moment they stood next to the exit, the winds already started hitting their faces.

The situation outside the cave was far worse than expected. The winds were so strong that walking without being blasted away was extremely hard. It even affected Eve's ability to float over the ground, as she was finally standing on top of the snow. That wasn't the only problem. The amount of snow carried by the wind was enough to create a permanent smoke screen.

"You're in command now. Your orders?" Eve said. Chung looked at her, feeling like that affirmation was some kind of taunt. He didn't knew what to do now, to be honest. He was expecting some kind of clue to be visible once they exited the cave, but the only thing on sight now was snow.

"Where do you suggest we start looking for the source of the anomaly?" Chung asked. He would rather not do so, knowing that she would mock him again, but there was nothing else he could come up with.

"Considering the shape of the barrier, I suggest we head towards it's hypothetical center. Given the distance of the cave we just traversed and the border of the barrier, it's not likely we will be able to make the trip in one day."

"So we'll be heading blindly into the storm…" Chung said, not very motivated to step out of the security of the cave.

"Knowing this place and the estimated position of our goal I'll be able to triangulate our position towards it. So all you'll have to do is try not to get separated from me. Now, I suggest we start moving before it gets dark."

As she said it, she took the first steps out. The strength of the wind was made clearly when she needed the help of her two drones to stay in place. She looked back, waiting for Chung to follow her.

The wind kicking the snow was like standing in front of a wave of nails. The half crystallized snowflakes flew so fast that they were scratching every inch of exposed skin in Chung's face. He looked in front of him, a black fuzzle shadow was the only clue for him that Eve was still there. He could barely hear her voice when she yelled directions at him. All that you could hear up here was the insidious howl of the winds.

They walked for what looked like hours. There was so much snow piled on the ground that each step would make you get buried almost till the waist in the gelid powder. Chung felt as if his fingers were about to came off. They were so cold that he could barely move then, and it was long since the last time he felt his legs. He could only confirm they were still attached to his body by looking at them. Eve, however, seemed to be unfazed, right in front of him she kept pushing against the endless wall of wind.

More time out there. The dozen layers of clothing were now barely keeping the cold away. It felt as if the snow were pilling inside the suit. He started falling behind, which forced her to stop from time to time to check on him. It was unfair that she were at such ease while he was on the line here, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. Oddly enough, the cold sensation was starting to make him feel sleepy. He shuddered when he thought that was that people must refer to as the cold embrace of death.

Finally it happened. He was so focused on keeping himself awake that he didn't saw Eve before running into her. She looked at him, from this close he could see her angry face while she pointed at a blackish formation not far away. He rushed towards it as he thanked the El lady for this respite, and was finally able to rest once he crossed the cave's entrance. He bend with hands on his knees to recover his breath. And then the pain hit him all at once. As the warm slowly started to return to his body he felt his hands and feet burning. Eve followed him soon after.

She wasn't at a better condition. Despite what she said about her core keeping her body at the right temperature, it was clearly visible from her trembling limbs and the blue color spreading through her skin that she was feeling cold.

"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Chung asked. One of the things he hated about her was how hard it was to speak with her. Even if you want to express your worry she would either answer with some harsh words or just slap you. Even though, as the white knight he was, he couldn't allow himself to look at her in silence.

And maybe due to the cold, she just nodded at him. It was a bit hard to believe her, but considering that she was a Nasod, nobody else than herself would know what's better for her.

The cave they were in now was nothing more than a small hole beneath the ground. The walls were covered in dirt and had a wavy shape, as if this place was carved by the water time ago. There were countless roots hanging from the ceiling from the trees above. The snow that piled in the entrance and was already starting to harden served as a natural barrier. It was tempting to just stay here and relax, but they need to move before it gets dark.

"Let's rest for a bit and proceed, the sooner we get to end of this the better." Chung suggested. He placed his backpack on the ground and searched through it until finally find a large knife that he used to harvest some of the roots.

They were easy to cut and dry, which made them perfect kindle for a fire. Once he gathered enough of them, he wrapped them up in one of his unused winter clothes and secured the package in top of his backpack.

"You should avoid burdening yourself so much," Eve said.

He was carrying his cannon and the tools on top of the kindle now. They needed those things, but it was true they were quite heavy, even for him. But more surprising was that she reached for the bundled roots and secured them on top of her backpack instead. Something Chung wouldn't even consider asking himself. He started to think that maybe he was being too cautious around her. After all, they were working together as a team, even if she's so socially awkward.

"Well, turns out you can be kind from times to times," He said, hoping to get some embarrassed reaction from her.

"Are you an idiot? Now is not the time for your chitty chat," Eve said, walking towards the edge of the cave.

Nope. There it was, the Ice Queen again. It may be due to the weather but she seems even colder than usual.

They took a small break to mentally prepare and threw themselves into the blizzard again. Knowing what to expect, they were able to move a little faster now. Chung relied on Eve's navigation skills to reach the center of the snowglobe they were trapped in. A race against the time, with the fact that any rushed step could make them fall to a horrible death.

They reached a particularly dangerous spot. A narrow path with a vertical precipice in front of it. There was a large elevation right in front of them. That would be almost impossible to climb in this state. Eve called her black drone and sent it to check the path.

"We could find another way," Chung yelled, the wind was so noisy he could barely hear his own voice.

"We don't know if there's even another way. Moby says the narrow path leads into an open area." Eve answered.

What luck for the small drones to be able to fly here. Although at first they were easily knocked out by the wind, with the help of their master they adjusted their engines for this wind. It was still impossible for her to lift from the ground, even with the help of her loyal drones. The path was so narrow they would have to cross it walking sideways. Eve removed her backpack to take a rope out from it. She tied it to her waist and around the bag. Chung didn't need an explanation to do the same.

She went in first. Slowly walking with her back to the wall. Chung hesitated before following her. Looking down into the precipice would reveal nothing more than a raging wind, and who knows what would lie beneath it. It could be either a fluffy bed of snow or a terrible group of icicles.

Everything was going well. They advanced enough to see the end of the narrow path. All they had to do was reach it. But it was too early to be happy. As they were walking, Eve suddenly slipped on the ice. Chung was quick to react, reaching for her and pushing her back to the wall before the Nasod girl would fall into the abyss. But unfortunately, that movement was enough to crack the ice under his feet. Having lost his footing, Chung struggled in vain to grab something to hold onto and fell.

His falling was suddenly stopped. He hear Eve yelling from pain and realized she had catch his hand just at the last moment. Holding herself with a small crack in the wall, Eve was holding not only Chung, but his luggage, Destroyer and Freutinier.

"I told you to not wear that stupid armor," She yelled with an agitated voice. Moby and Remy rushed to help, pushing from beneath his feet, but even with their help he wasn't able to pull up. The shock Eve received on her arm paralyzed it in pain, she wasn't able to pull him up. The crack she was holding onto was starting to melt. "Cut the bags!"

In a desperate situation like this, Chung found himself blocked. Eve had to yell at him again. He finally came to his senses and reached for the bag, searching desperately for the knife inside it. The unforgiving wind was still throwing snow and icy fragments at his face, dangerously swinging him. With every movement he made, Chung heard Eve's painful complains. It made him feel bad, almost as if it was his fault they were in this situation, even after it happened because she slipped first.

Chung finally felt the wooden handle on his hand and pulled it out, cutting in one swing the rope that connected him to the bag. It plumbed into the deeps below, and he could feel the weight being removed from his waist. But it wasn't enough, the pain was keeping Eve from pulling him up and the small crack was about to break. Thinking quick Chung stabbed the wall with his knife, he tested if it was resistant enough before using it to support himself. Using that he was able to lift himself just enough to get a hold of Eve.

"Release yourself, trust me," He said. Eve looked at him for a brief moment before letting go the crack that was keeping her from falling. Both of them started falling into the void.

In a heartbeat Chung aimed his cannon at the fall below and shot. The explosive burst from the cannon was enough to send them flying closer to the safe land. A new release from the Destroyer was enough to send them over the edge. They landed rolling on the snow. Their remaining bag broke and the contents were spread over the ground. He quickly started picking them up, but with nothing to hold them he found himself staring at Eve, who was kneeled in the snow clinging to her arm. She seemed to be in pain. Chung looked around, he spotted a black dot through the intense blizzard and prayed for it to be another cave, or at least a place to rest.

"Eve! Let's move, we can't stay here. There's a safe spot over there, I think!" He yelled at her, although he felt like he shouldn't have said the last part.

It took a while but she finally stood, still clinging to her arm. She didn't said anything, but started following him. The place Chung saw from afar turned out to be an artificially made cave. A narrow entrance leaded into a wide dome, enough to keep around twenty people inside. There was a small hole on the ceiling in the center of the room, and right below it there was some kind of hole filled with black soot. Chung heard about this kind of place. The miners that worked on the mines long ago must have built it to spend the nights in a more comfortable place. Now, it seemed to have gone through years of abandonment. But it was still a suitable refuge.

He left their things on the ground. They lost half of their tools and now they don't have anything to carry the remaining ones. At least the roots he gathered were still there. And the fire started they brought. He looked around and found Eve sitting next to the blackish hole. She was slowly opening and closing her hand, as the pain from earlier seemed to be going away, however she was still totally quiet.

"Don't worry, I'll lit the fire now," He said in a reassuring tone. She didn't paid attention to him even when he managed to get a spark with the fire starter. The dry roots caught fire quickly and a modest fire began to grow in the middle of the hole. The fire reflected as an orange dot on her eyes. She lifted her sight to him to finally speak.

"My arm appears to be fine. It's not broken, the pain is fading away and I can move it with little trouble." She said, and after a brief silence she added: "I apologize for what I said earlier about your armor," and went back to silence once again.

"Oh, that. With all the ruckus I already forgot about it. Don't mind it, even I would say stupid things in a situation like that." He answered back, sitting across the fire.

"But I'm not you." Eve said back.

* * *

 _ **This chapter was fast. Looks like I had too much free time. I wish I could update this fast from now on but I'm afraid that won't be the case haha.**_

 _ **Anyways, thanks for reading :3**_


	7. Until Dawn

The fire crackled weakly on the fireplace. Roots may be good to start it, but to make a decent fire they should be using better stock. They searched the room they were in for something to burn but the only thing they could find so far were the wooden beans that supported the walls. And it didn't seem like a good idea to burn those.

"I'll be going outside to get us some better wood," Chung said. He left everything but his cannon on the cave and stepped out. The glacial weather welcomed him back to the outside. Searching for dry wood here was something more akin of a madman than Chung, but they need it anyway.

The most obvious place to look for it would be beneath the trees, however due to the snow everything there should be damped. The problem with wet wood is that it's hard to burn, and considering the weak fire they managed to make; it might as well put it out. Luckily, he knew just enough about camping to handle this situation.

It didn't took long to bump into a tree near the entrance of the cave. Having lost the knife on that incident before he had to use a rock. He picked up the sharpest one he could find and started carving the tree's bark. Once it was out of the way, he broke and splintered the insides of the tree. The wood there was dry, however, without an axe it was impossible to take big chunks of it. But all he needed was a good handful of splints. Once he had a large bunch to carry beneath his arm, he started picking up branches and sticks around the ground. Trying to get the driest ones. In this cold, the snow didn't melt fast enough to dampen everything, but it was still enough to make most wood useless.

With his hands full of splits and logs, he came back to the cave. Eve was sitting by the fire. She didn't said anything while Chung threw all the splints he brought into the fire. Being small and dry, they easily and quickly burned, creating a small yet hot fire. Then he placed the wet wood. It took some time, but the extra kick of the splinters made just enough heat to allow the fire to burn even the wet wood. Now that the fire was starting to grow the light casted by it illuminated the walls, turning the dark ominous cave into a somewhat cozy hole. The orangish tone of the walls danced with the movements of the fire, both of them looked at it, feeling its warmth as a ray of hope in this dangerous quest.

"That's one thing less to worry about," Chung said, sitting in front of Eve. She didn't said anything "Humm… So my plan is to rest here until tomorrow and continue in the morning. We don't know how afar we are from our destination or if we'll be able to find another refuge so… I believe this is the correct decision."

Eve sighed and lifted her face to look at him. Chung saw the fire as two orange dots reflecting on her golden eyes. She seemed as if she wanted to say anything, but was still silent, just staring at him.

"Is… your arm ok?"

"It's not broken," She said, finally opening her mouth "And I can move it just fine, it only hurts a little."

"I see…" Chung said. She was still staring at him. Chung wondered why, if she wanted to say anything she would do it without even waiting for him to speak. It was a bit awkward the way she was silently sitting there, looking at him.

"Do you want to say anything?" Chung finally asked, not being able to endure the awkwardness any longer.

Eve didn't said anything right away, instead she looked again at the fire, then at him, then she looked around the cave and then at him again before saying "This is awkward."

It already was, but her enigmatic behaviour and the fact that she just said it only made it more awkward.

"We have been in similar situations before, but normally one of us would either exit the room or go to sleep. This is the first time we stay in the same room for more than 34 minutes and 27 seconds without any of us preventing engaging in social dialogue."

Without knowing what to say, he looked around trying to figure out what to say. He almost regret starting this conversation to begin with.

"You usually do that. Once you don't have anything to say during a conversation you desperately look around hoping for your next lines to be written somewhere," Eve added. Chung stopped looking around to look at her now. He still didn't knew what to said, but was slightly annoyed. Eve seemed to pick up on this "Also, you get easily annoyed whenever I highlight your defects. I observed you only do this with me. When Raven or Elsword point out any of your mistakes you take it on your strive, and if it's Rena or Aisha you tend to apologize for them."

"They don't point them out in such an annoying way," Chung said to defend himself.

"Is that so? For future reference, you should try to remember that I don't point out your many faults in an attempt to make you annoyed, but to help you correct them. That's why I decide to do it in the most direct, precise and concise way."

"You could arrange your words so they wouldn't be so mean at least," Chung said. He was convinced that, despite what she said, there was some real harsh intention on her words whenever she would complain about him.

"But it doesn't matter how much I decorate them, the meaning will be the same. Unless you don't understand those words once they have been beautified, you'll be offended as well."

"It is not the same. I mean…" He paused to think of an example "People doesn't like to be told they are useless doing something, they instead prefer to hear that they are not the best at that. Or if someone did something wrong, you just say they did the best they could do."

"What you are trying to say is that if I tell people that their skill is not enough to the task rather than that they lack the skill for the task they won't be offended?"

"Well, not exactly, it's just... " He sighed, either she wasn't understanding him or she was trying to not do it "When you tell people what they did wrong you tend to emphasize on things more than they would like."

"Then I can tell people they are doing things wrong but not why?" Eve questioned. Chung scratched his head, giving explanations was not his forte, and give them to someone as dull wasn't helping.

"Nevermind. I give up. You'll figure it out yourself eventually, if you're as intelligent as you try to look." Chung said, retrieving the bag and looking for something inside. He pulled out of it a ragged blanket. It was brown and the fur on it resemble a brown bear. It was hellish expensive so it was a good thing that it survived. He handled it to Eve and continued searching for the other one.

"The other one was in the bag we lost. I would like to say that you would knew it if you exercised your memory better but you'll get offended, so instead I decide to not tell you about your error and let you repeat it again in the future. You're welcome."

"Now you're just being a pain in purpose…" He protested, lying on the floor preparing to sleep.

"No, I'm not. Are you sure you don't want to cover yourself with this? Even with the fire it will be pretty cold tonight,"

"But we only have one, and I know better than to keep those things to myself."

"It's big enough to fit the two of us," She said, throwing it over her back and waving one of the extremes to him.

"You serious? I thought you didn't like any kind of physical contact…" Chung said, warily accepting the empty side of the blanket.

"I don't know what are you talking about. While I do hate any form of unnecessary physical contact, It's not reason enough to risk other people's health. With that said, If I feel like you're any closer than you need to I'll kick you out of the cave immediately."

* * *

The smell of gunpowder and burnt fur mixed together is vomiting. If you mix it with the sight of a huge pack of wolves slowly decomposing it'll only make things worse. Down the mountain, on the village; Rena and Aisha were holding their position against an unusually large amount of enemies. Wolves. Rabid as if they hadn't eaten anything in the whole year, they came from the forest and assaulted everyone on sight. While not as oversized as the beast they fought the first day, this unusual behaviour had become a problem all of the sudden. It started in the evening, and they only grew in numbers along the day. Night was about to arrive, and they could still hear them running in the forest, preparing their next assault. Rena had already scouted the area. It seemed like they would be charging against the city at any moment.

They had blocked all the streets they could with whatever they could find. Wood, bags full of seeds, old furniture… And left a single one that headed straight into the plaza from the crop fields. Along this single road, thousands of flies were having the feast of their lives on the remains of the wolves. White, grey and black… from any race and species, they seemed to be just here to attack the village. Nobody here remembered seeing a single grey wolf in these forests, even black ones were rare enough.

The sound of rumbling and the dust raising in the distance alarmed them of a new wave incoming. Rena gave the alarm, and all citizens that were on the streets trying to get the dead wolves out and the barricades secured immediately fled.

"Let's go with the new plan. I hope it works," Rena said. Aisha noded and prepared to get to her position "Aisha, stay safe."

The mage teleported from the ceiling to the street. She stood there with her wand ready chanting a spell. Fire was starting to appear around her. Small sparkles that whirled around her body. The dust cloud that the wolves were kicking started to clear as they reached the crops and they could see the pack of hungry beasts that was charging against them. It was larger than the ones before, all of them seemed driven by an unnatural bloodlust.

The pack invaded the streets, charging against the only target at sight. Aisha waited for them to get near. She didn't like this plan, but it was her the one who proposed it, so she should at least give it a little faith. She waited until the wolves were near enough of her. Some of them broke away from the pack and were already reaching her, she took at step back when they leaped at her, but were hit mid-air by Rena.

"Wait a little more!" The elf said, preparing another arrow.

Easier said than done. Aisha had to fight her instincts to remain there, still casting her spell. The pack finally reached her. They didn't jump directly, instead they started circling around her, preparing for an attack from multiple directions. They barked at her, showing their teeth, waiting for Aisha to make a mistake. But she patiently waited surrounded by the wolves. Finally one of them broke their formation, and was quickly followed by more of them. They jumped at her. Just at the time, she stopped casting her spell.

The small sparkles and embers that floated around here suddenly bursted in large flames. They swirled around her and wraped her body in an intense fire. The wolves that were about to reach her were caught in the fire and burned to a crisp. The other ones surrounding her flinched at the sight of the large fire. They were confronted by their inner fear of fire and their bloodlust, breaking their pack and moving chaotically. They started to bump into each other, causing their volatile state to end in them fighting each other right on the spot.

Aisha took this small chance and moved behind the pack. The flames followed her, embracing and caressing her body, but they didn't even burnt her clothes. Seeing the fire moving to their back, the wolves started moving further into the town. Trying to get away from them as well as find new prey. They followed a path set with barricades and obstacles that lead them into the plaza. Once there, they found all the exits closed except the one they came from, where Aisha now.

"Now!" Rena shouted from the roofs. A group of villagers emerged from the buildings, quickly moving in front of Aisha. The wolves seemed confused for a moment. All of this was too strange for them, especially in the state they were. The villagers were armed with rusty rifles and guns they usually use for hunting. They formed a line in front of Aisha and fired at once.

The pack of wolves moved in disarray, trying to find a way out as well as attacking the villagers. It was useless, as the villagers had formed two rows that allowed them to fire and retreat to reload while the other row fires, as Aisha previously instructed them to do. The chaos and confusion worked better than any other weapon, the huge pack of wolves was reduced to a small group. The less wolves remaining in the pack, the more desperate they were to run away. Rena was leaping from one roof to another, finishing off any wolf that could crawl its way out of the plaza.

It didn't took long to finish them all. The sound of gunfire was replaced by the night breeze. The air was full of the smell of blood and burned fur. The villagers took a moment to breathe and them bursted in cries of victory. But it was a short victory.

As the night fell and light started to fade away, the city became swarmed by an evil plague. Bats, rats and thousands of other kinds of rodents invaded the streets. At first they thought they came to feast on the corpses from the wolves, but soon they realized there was a much more sinister intent on them. Similar to the wolves, this masses of rodents moved in large packs, trying to attack any human in sight. Everyone in the village, including the injured on the clinic; moved into the town hall. They blocked every entrance with what they could use, and eventually all the windows, as the bats were trying to smash through them. The atmosphere got pretty tense, with everyone feeling scared.

"We should have left when we could."

"This time we were lucky, but the next time one of these monsters come…"

"This village is cursed."

One by one, everyone let out their complaints and the El Party couldn't do anything more than wait inside with them, hoping for the creatures to go away at dawn.

"Everyone, cheer up! This is nothing more than a plague of rats," Aisha said, trying to get everyone hopes up. Some of the villagers looked at her, but even they didn't look much interested in her words.

"Elsword!" Rena called "Can't you say something?"

The Party leader was sitting next to the makeshift bed they made for Raven. He was still unable to fight, but at least he regained consciousness. They were exchanging words that nobody could hear. Not because they were apart, but because everyone was lamenting the situation. Suddenly they heard a cry outside.

"Did we left someone outside?" Rena said, startled; and ran to the door. She was about to remove the wooden benches they threw over it to block it when someone grabbed her hand.

"It's the village's priest, father Kinnegan. He went crazy when all of this started, if you go aid him, he most likely will attack you."

"We're not leaving anyone outside!" Rena answered, but as she was speaking someone pointed outside between the cracks in a poorly blocked window. Rena ran to it and squinted to see what was going on outside. It was hard to see between the bats flying around but she catch the light of a torch being held by a man. He was at the top of a building in the other side of the plaza with the torch in one hand and a bell in the other. Now that she was seeing him, Rena was able to hear what was he yelling.

"This place is doomed," the priest Kinnegan yelled, shaking his bell desperately "The Lady El has abandoned and casted us away in this dark realm. A great evil has befallen our village and now we are facing the results of our copious sins!"

"What are you doing there? Get here at once and stop spouting nonsense!" Aisha yelled at him through the window.

"The great party of heroes had just come here to perish. An impending doom hovers over everyone in this place. If you still have a hint of humanity in you, cut the throats of your kids and grant them a painless death!"

He was still shouting, but the swarm of bats finally saw him. They all flew around him. The priest brandished his torch to keep them away, but it was useless. Everyone in the windows witnessed the crazed priest being devoured by thousands of tiny fangs and claws without being able to do anything for him. The situation was now grimmer than ever. The people started complaining, they want run away. Leave the village and never come back. Aisha and Rena didn't knew what to do to keep them under control.

"That's fine," Elsword said. Everyone turned away to look at him, but instead of finding him next to Raven, they saw him removing the blockade on the door "I'll just open the door and them all of you can go out."

As he was removing the debris stacked against the door, they could hear tiny claws scratching the door. The shrieks of uncountable rats pilling on the other side of the door resonated with everyone once the sound of their complains stopped.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop it, you'll kill us all."

Elsword didn't listened to them and finished unblocking the door. He pulled the handle and let it open just enough for the rats to press their snouts between the crack.

"Stop it!" They yelled at once.

"I see. I thought you were so desperately to go out after all. Listen, we have two of our friends up there, and another one lying there. I don't want to hear any complain from you. You'll wait until dawn, and them you'll do whatever you want. But know that if you decide to flee the village, we won't be following you."

Elsword pushed the door shut again, hurting the rats that dared try to sneak in. Everyone fell silent and the only thing they could hear was the bats smashing against the windows again.

* * *

Being inside a cave makes it hard to keep track of the time. Chung knew many ways to keep track of time using just their campfire. One as easy as taking in account the amount of time the fire takes to burn the firewood they have or even observing the reactions from the lichen and fungus that live on the cave. However they were mostly unnecessary since Moby was awake with him, projecting a blue screen which clearly stated that it was currently _Sunrise_.

"Time to wake her up," Chung thought to himself and looked right next to him. They were lying on the ground next to fire. Even in there, they decided to take turns to sleep and stay awake to keep the fire burning and things check. Being together beneath the same blanket made it much more bearable, since it slowly got warmer over the night. So much that when Chung moved to wake her up, a breeze of frigid air entered the blanket, immediately making him regret moving.

But even if they were comfortably warm in there and the cold outside was so discouraging, they still had to go. He looked at her. In her sleep she had rolled over to face him with both hands clutched at his shoulder. He had to stay for so long without moving that arm that it went numb by now.

"Eve, wake up," He said to her, gently shaking her shoulder.

The Nasod groaned and slowly open her eyes. She looked at him and them at her own hands. Without saying anything she moved away and slowly sat up, pushing the blanket down in the process. Chung had to fight the urge to pull it over his head once again.

They prepared to face the mountain again. Their had canned food for breakfast. It wasn't tasty, but at least it was edible, not like some things they had to eat in other missions. They got their warming equipment ready and walked to the entrance of the cave. And the mountain received them with even worse weather than yesterday. Instead of flying snowflakes now it literally looked like there was thousands of ice needles flying around the place. It was as scary as stepping in burning coal, but they had to do it, there was no point in staying up there.


	8. Great White

_**Hi Everyone :3**_

 _ **I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. It's been a long holyday and lots of work to do. Also, this chapter is pretty special**_

 _ **This chapter was written by Tin (Taee), using a plot I sent her. This was part of our discord server Secret Santa event, in which we all wrote a chapter for another writer. I hope you enjoy her writing as much as I did :3**_

* * *

"Let's go." Eve tightens the fastenings of her cloak and tugs the hood over her head, her wavy silver hair spilling over one shoulder. Without sparing him a glance, she ventures out into the storm. In a few seconds, her wavering figure already becomes hazy, so Chung hastily trudges after her, struggling to keep his balance in the intense winds. While Chung feels that he's about to be blown away, his skin and flesh peeling off layer by layer under the cutting snow, Eve's stance and posture look as unruffled as ever, and he wonders just how she does it. Maybe it comes with the royal status. Or the metal body and heartless heart. But is she really heartless? Sometimes Chung isn't sure anymore. It's something that he finds himself mulling over Every now and then after certain moments with her.

Without noticing, he'd stopped in his tracks, and a particularly strong gust that nearly topples him facefirst into the snow (though he feels at this point he wouldn't Even be able to notice the difference between ground and sky) reminds him that it's no time to be thinking such pointless thoughts. He huffs, shaking his head at himself, and speeds up again in pursuit.

There is a certain characteristic to their little trek (note sarcasm) up the mountain that makes Chung want simultaneously to give up, fall asleep then die, and to keep pushing forward. On one hand, it is getting increasingly difficult to continue. If possible, the winds seem to be blowing faster and faster, and the temperatures dropping Even further, until Chung can't clearly distinguish between himself and what surrounds him. His teeth won't stop clattering together. Their dull clacks are the only thing that keeps him self-aware, though. Reminds him that he is an object of resistance and therefore substance, not just some hollow skin about to disintegrate into ice crystals.

Eve, too, and their need to investigate, and hopefully stop, this accursed blizzard are the constants that keep him going. With this unnatural a storm, there has to be a reason. A reason Chung is sure they'll find. The thought that if they walk enough, go far enough, they'll find it, they'll stop it, and Chung repeats it like a mantra, a shoddy, makeshift drumbeat for him to shuffle to, one foot in front of the other, on and on and on. It's not in his nature to admit defeat when victory is still even the slightest bit in the air. And like the light at the end of the tunnel, except that Eve is the one dark spot in a world of white, she remains a short distance ahead of him, and even when he imagines frostbite is devouring his brain and halting his mental functions, some primal, instinctive part of him knows to follow her. It's pretty much thoughtless. He just goes where she does, too battered and useless in this kind of weather to be overly suspicious of her directional choices.

As they hike under the darkening clouds, Chung loses track of time. It could've been an hour. Could've been forever. Sure seemed like it had been forever ago since that glowing yesterday in the cave. They'd had a fire. A blanket. Against all odds, they'd actually had a somewhat decent conversation with each other. He'd thought that the Eve of that time was particularly easy on the eyes, even if her words were as scathing as usual. It had to have been the firelight. Warm bodies and warm minds. Shining hair that reflected orange and red, a little blue. Amber eyes, the color of distilled sunlight, wavering with hidden depths, melting, dripping down like slow candle wax. Viscous as honey, suffocating as the humid monsoon air of Hamel. A dream of Eve within a dream of Eve, her lips moved soundlessly, the shadows and the lights clearly scattered, defined across the planes of her face. She speaks in words Chung doesn't understand, chattering until he doesn't want to listen, not that he ever did, but still she keeps going. And then sh draws closer, luminous, talking with sparks and embers and so very nonsensically warm. How many matches blazed for this one vision?

"Chung." Eve snaps her fingers in his face. The sound is distinct and crisp despite the blizzard. "Chung. What are you doing?"

Eve leads the way in a direction from where she'd felt milder winds. Chung pays more attention this time. If he was having hallucinations already, he probably wasn't far off from actually falling asleep and dying. At some point, he notices that the ground beneath their feet slopes gently downwards instead of up, and the many feet of snow that they'd been slogging through, almost reaching his mid thigh, begins to lessen. Chung stuffs his hands deeper into the lined pockets of his coat, blowing out a slow breath. He can see the mist that comes out, now. Did they find they source already? Judging from the dim light, still vastly brighter than earlier, it couldn't have been that long since they left the cave. As Eve slows her pace to scan the area, Chung catches up and confirms the time with Moby. There was no way they'd reached the center of the mountain in such a short time. So where, or what, is this?

"Scans show that we are approaching a valley," Eve says, studying something in the distance. "There is a cliff nearby. Take caution not to fall-"

Chung moves closer to hear her better, instead hearing the ominous sound of something crumbling and giving way under his feet, and then he falls down the mentioned cliff with a loud shriek. The drop isn't a small one. He'd become a red splatter on the ground for sure. For once, Chung wishes that there'd be an abominable amount of snow, but of course there isn't. On the valley floor is only a thin coating of the stuff; enough for a snowball fight and that pretty, dainty festive look, hardly enough to serve as a cushion. In a rush, Chung fumbles to unfasten his cannon, curse his frozen logs of fingers, and when he finally gets his weapon free, he fires a round directly towards the ground, the following recoil and rising blast of hot air slow his descent enough for him to land mostly unharmed. A little singed, but unharmed.

Eve touches down gracefully a few feet from him, assisted by Moby and Remy. "You're alive."

Chung scowls. "Barely. You couldn't warn me?"

"I did. You didn't listen."

"You didn't say it was literally _right there_. I could've died!"

"But you did not. It would be ridiculous and shameful towards the El Search Party if something so trivial were able to end your life."

Chung splutters wordlessly. Was that a compliment or an insult? It felt like a bit of both.

The nasod ignores his protests and begins to explore the valley, Chung reluctantly and indignantly trailing behind.

Here, if feels almost as if there is no storm at all. The high cliffs forming the perimeter of the valley direct the winds away from the interior, so that a light snowfall is the only indication of the extreme weather outside. The valley was such a strange shape, almost as if someone had taken a cookie cutter to the mountain and removed a chunk. It didn't seem natural.

"I sense one other heat signature nearby," Eve says. "Be on your guard." And then, sarcastically, she adds, "Do I need to notify you of its location?"

"...No thanks." The answer is obvious, as the heat source is right in front of them. A wolf, except not. Its fur is a clean white and blends in well with the wintry landscape, and though it's abnormally large and stands only on its hind two feet, Chung hadn't noticed it until it revealed itself. "Should we attack….?"

The answer to that too, is obvious, as the walking wolf lunges towards them, surprisingly fast, claws fully extended and glinting coldly. Eve summons a few nasod spears with a wave of her hand to block, seeming somewhat shocked when the creature manages to knock them aside, hairline cracks appearing in two. Chung is also shocked. Traveling with Eve, he'd seen what she was capable of, and her weapons were by no means easily damaged. This wasn't an opponent they could take lightly. The wolf attacks again, and this time, a spear appears in Eve's hand, quickly lifting her out of harm's way. Chung has no such fancy methods and sticks to the tried and true, stop, drop and roll to escape. He rapidly loads a few rounds into his cannon and fires a test shot at the werewolf, just as Eve flings her spear. The force of the explosion of his shot blows her spear off course, and it stabs deep into the ground beside the creature. After the smoke clears, the werewolf is crouched in a protective posture, but mostly unharmed.

"No way..!" That was a direct hit from one of his missiles, and from such a short distance too! How could it barely have any effect?

"You're getting in the way. If you are not going to contribute, don't interfere." Eve brushes past him and jumps straight into melee combat with the werewolf. Remy titters at him at for a second before rushing back to defend its mistress.

In this kind of situation, Chung isn't sure what he can do. With his bulky armor and cannon, he can't keep up in hand to hand with the speed that the werewolf and Eve are fighting at, and shooting would be useless as well. All of his shots have a wide impact range and the blue smoke would definitely impede Eve, possibly even cause her to be injured. Chung decides to remain on the sidelines for a bit and try to analyze the fight.

Compared with Eve, the werewolf is superior offensively and defensively. It's skin is exceedingly tough, and despite Eve's constant barrage of Nasod weaponry, they only leave shallow cuts on the creature and only serve to incense it. However, Eve is more mobile, darting out and around it, able to navigate efficiently on or above the ground and able to attack from all angles. Chung can also see the werewolf's movements gradually becoming more frantic and careless as its frustration grows. Eve's strategy is working. If this continues, she'll eventually be able to wear it down and deliver the final blow. The only problem is that Eve has sustained too much damage. Her left arm has a deep gash on it and has jerky movements, and there are several similar painful claw marks all over her body.

Eve's style of fighting had developed so that she took the role of sole attacker while Moby and Remy became her shields. In this fight though, the two drones are being overwhelmed constantly, the werewolf smacking them straight out of the air whenever they try to block or parry its attacks. Eve, seeing this, had decided to focus them on attack and defend just the barest minimum. Eve had chosen to burn her life to take down the werewolf, a battle of attrition on both sides, and the side to collapse first would be the loser. At this rate, without help, the Nasod queen would die.

Chung's defensive capabilities and strength are much better than Moby and Remy's though, so he volunteers to be the tank. "Eve! I'll help you defend! You attack!"

Eve glances his way and though she doesn't reply, she materializes a holographic nasod blade that pierces through the werewolf and staggers it, faint prickles of electricity running over its fur. In the next instant, several nasod spears surround it, caging in the creature, She then backs away from the werewolf, and Chung fills in the gap. The werewolf frees itself with a roar soon after, and attacks its new target with vigor, almost relieved.

But Chung isn't exactly easy, either. He lifts his cannon horizontally to stop the werewolf. Its claws latch onto the crevices and Chung fires the cannon from one end, jerking his weapon and the werewolf's arms to one side. Although they are both off balance, Chung trusts that Eve is precise enough not to hit the wrong target, and he's proven correct when a few lasers plus a revolving nasod spear, like a drill but with more barbs and far more deadly, strike the werewolf. While she attacks, Chung is given the time to recover.

When he'd been observing the fight, Chung noticed that the werewolf always leaned forward, and combined with his extensive knowledge of wolves (don't underestimate the power of having a favorite animal), he knows that wolves aren't supposed to be bipedal! Ok obviously, but if he cuts out a bunch of scientific facts and human evolution things, basically, a wolf being bipedal would put too much stress on its spine and would lack balance. So actually, Chung's attacks, while more crude and less technical than Eve's, are actually better suited for fighting the wolf because the great force he puts behind each of them are able to push it off center. By himself, he might not be able to land follow up attacks on the creature after he unbalances it, but with Eve and her spears backing him up, they are able to pressure the werewolf, eventually forcing it up against a cliff face surrounding the valley.

The werewolf's chest is heaving and has dropped to an awkward four legged pose, its human legs unsuited for this motion. Blood is running in rivulets down its arms and one of them is broken in several places, courtesy of a particularly well placed downward strike of Chung's destroyer. Similarly, Eve's left arm has entirely stopped functioning. Chung's armor looks worse for the wear, but inside he's mostly unharmed, save for a few bruises. However, he feels about to collapse, the long, arduous journey up the mountain, as well as continually blocking all of the werewolf's hits, taking its toll. Just a bit more, he encourages himself. The battle is almost over!

Perhaps recognizing a moment of weakness, the werewolf charges forward with the desperation of a cornered animal. Chung, startled, moves his destroyer in front of his face hastily, but the creature shoots past him, barreling straight for Eve. Luckily, she constructs another barrier of nasod spears just in time. Chung fires thoughtlessly, and the hit that lands gives the werewolf enough force to burst through the barrier even faster than before, and claw Eve across the head before she can get out of the way. Her damaged face isn't of much consequence and can be repaired; the problem is the scratch on the glowing blue core on her forehead.

It flickers intermittently until it finally blinks out. Eve crumples to the snow.

"Eve…!"


	9. Ice Queen

_**A new update! So soon? Well, since Taee was writing the previous chapter, I took the chance to work on this one, so yeah, here it is.**_

* * *

"Aisha!"

The young mage was startled out of her guard. She looked down to see Rena, waving a wrapped snack at her. Aisha left her position to levitate down the roof she was. With the night gone and the terrors that came with it nowhere to be seen, the villagers were finally able to get out the buildings and start rebuilding the little defenses they were able to put up. The morale was pretty low, and having to bury their priest after he lost it didn't help at all. Elsword and Raven were helping creating barricades on the rest of the streets while she was tasked with surveillance. Rena was the one sent into the forest to scout what the enemy was doing.

"I hope you have something more than food…" Aisha said, with a sad tone. The elf switched her lively expression into a severe one before speaking.

"They're regrouping, a large pack of wolves, pretty much like yesterday."

"I see… We'll do the same then, I'll start preparing,"

Aisha began reuniting the villagers for the defense. There were some less than yesterday, some of them were already exhausted or too scared to fight.

"They're not normal wolves," Raven said. He wasn't fully recovered but at least he was able to lend a hand "Aside from their extrange behaviour. This isn't just a group of wolves attacking a weak village."

His words were interesting enough to caught Aisha's attention, who came back to listen at his theory.

"We are up against a human, or an intelligent being at least. This is their strategy. The bats that attacked us at night wouldn't have been a problem during the day, however we're attacked by large creatures in the daylight. They are trying to worn us out. While we fight during the day, these small critters keep us from resting at night, it's an attrition war… and we're heading to a defeat."

"And that's not all," Raven continued, now he had the attention of the full group, Elsword just arrived to check on them "There's something more. I don't know what this is, but take a look at this people. They're too sad, too scared. It's like something is forcing them to be on this negative status."

"They have been enduring this situation by some time now…" Elsword said.

"Raven is right. Something is affecting the townspeople," Aisha said "I don't know what it is, but it could even be a curse…"

"Or something on their water," Rena proposed as well.

"Whatever it is, we can only defend this place for now, and hope that those two are doing fine…" Raven said, prompting them all to look up at the raging blizzard.

* * *

"Eve!" Chung yelled. She was lying on the snow, not moving a muscle, and what was more worrying, the white monster that took her down was standing right next to her. He rushed to the beast, in his mind he only cared about taking it away from her. But to his surprise the creature didn't attacked her any further.

It waited until Chung was near enough to turn around, its claw clenched in a fist that could have vaporized the young boy if he hadn't lifted his cannon in time. He felt the bones of the creature crack against his cannon before being launched in the air. He passed through many trees before finally crashing into one. He fell on the ground, and even before he could get up, he was forced to roll out of the way of the werewolf, who came crashing into the trees. The flora didn't stood a chance against the beast and every three on its way was torn in two. As the werewolf overshoot him, it crashed and rolled on the ground, it got up immediately and started to charge towards Chung again. They needed the whole effort of the entire party to take down one of them before, and now he was alone against this one. And to make things worse, Eve was down, who knows how badly injured.

It wasn't the time to grief. Not only had this monster hurt her, it also hurt Chung's pride as a Hamelian. To let a comrade in battle get hurt, it was against what he stood for. But he wasn't going to let rage take over. The words he had been hearing in his head for a long time resonated now. All the lessons he received had prepared him for this.

"Time to get a bit reckless," Chung said to himself. He knew that the situation was dire enough but trying to keep on the defensive would only have him killed. He would have to take down this creature in one blow. And he knew how. It was something that Elsword proposed to him once after a practice, it sounded interesting, but it was too stupid to work. Maybe the snow could help.

He was snatched out of his thoughts when the monster came barreling at him. The claws teared the snow on their way to his gut. Chung stood his ground and threw his arms around the sharp nails of the creature. His armor trembled under the blade like claws, but it held in one piece. Chung used his own weight to push the arm down, the creature tried to resist, but the weight of his armor and cannon were enough to make it break. The monster jumped back, licking its forearm. It was all the time he needed. Chung reached for his grenades and throw a handful of them at his feet.

He was praying for this to work. Once it was done licking its injury, the werewolf charged again, with one arm less it was a slower and clumsy rush. Chung waited until it was close enough before stepping out of the way of its claws. He took his cannon and swung down, preparing a shell inside. The cannon hit the ground, smashing the grenades on it at the same time that he pulled the trigger. The resultant chain explosion propelled the cannon up so fast that it could have ripped off his hand hadn't he let go the cannon. It lifted as a rocket and crashing straight under the monster's jaw. With enough strength to snap its neck, the monster rose and fell backwards on the snow. Short movements and a low growl confirming Chung of its death. He managed to catch the cannon as it was falling, but it wasn't the time for fancy celebrations. He rushed back to where he last saw Eve.

His soul fell at his feet when he couldn't see her. He saw the mark on the snow where she was, but nothing around it. She just banished. Chung fell on the ground. What if another werewolf showed up while she was down and took her?

Whatever happened, it wouldn't solve by standing there. Chung tried to stood up again, but suddenly fell again. He hadn't realize it, but he was out of breath. The cold air was cutting his lungs now, as he tried to recover his breath. He would need to find a place to rest, but there wasn't time. If Eve was still alive, he wouldn't have time to spare. Chung gave himself a bit time until he finally was able to feel the warmth of his blood again and then stood up. He looked around. There wasn't any paw prints or anything similar around him. Not to mention that those monsters aren't precisely sneaky.

"Calm down, don't panic…" He said to himself "Think what she would say if she sees you like this."

He started walking, with no clues about her, he had to chose one direction and walk. Considering the situation, he decided to head deeper in the valley. It was hard to believe how big it was, and how conveniently it's orography was keeping it safe from the horrible storm. He was so immersed in his own worries that he was easily startled when his hands came in contact with some strange magic. Chung took a jump away from… nothing. There was nothing in front of him, but he definitely felt something strange. He took a few steps and cautiously moved his arm. His hand contacted again with the same magic. He saw how the air around it broke, it was as if he was pushing an invisible layer of ice. He recognized this, it was something that Aisha showed him once. A magical barrier. Most likely to hide something from sight considering how easy he was able to break it. He slowly walked over it, making sure to feel with his feet first if there was solid ground beneath it, and finally sticking his head inside.

The view on the other side was shockingly different. While still in the same large valley he was in, there wasn't any snow in it. What was inside the barrier was a huge castle. The valley sank beneath it into a ravine too dark to see, and the large building rose from it with thick stone columns. Made from black stone, it was shaped as a cross, with a tall tower on the central part. From the top of it, Chung was able to see an intense light as well as a never ending stream of snow coming out of it. There was only one way of accessing the castle, and it was from a long bridge in front of it. Chung wondered if Eve was inside, and was about to start walking when he felt something hitting his back. He immediately moved into a defensive stance before realizing that it was Moby. The black drone was beeping and moving like crazy, and although Chung couldn't understand it, it was clear that he was worried about Eve.

"Moby! Calm down! Do you know where Eve is?" Chung asked. However the drone felt silent and after a moment, it stared into the castle "Is she there?"

Moby beeped and Chung could guess that it was correct. Was she taken there? By who? He was hesitant, unsure about how to act now. If she was there, at least she would be safe. If the owners of this place were friendly. He looked up at the tower. It looked like that was the source of the storm.

"Let's go get your master," Chung said. The drone happily chased him on their way across the bridge. Made of pure black stone, the bridge extended over the bottomless ravine under them. He wasn't sure how safe this whole building actually is, or how it was possible to have it built there; but still had to press on. If the little drone was saying the truth, its master should be in there. Chung prayed that the people who pick her up were actually good people, however the ominous sense he felt from the castle as well as the storm-generating tower told him the contrary. On the other side of the bridge, two tall doors welcomed him. They were tall enough to allow a giant through.

He knocked on the door and asked if there was someone there, but there wasn't an answer. He was about to knock again but the door opened. The huge door cracked with an eerie sound as it made way for him. He looked at the drone at his side who was now as worried as him and they stepped in. There was nobody on the other side. The door opening mechanism was so covered in dust that probably nobody has ever operated it. They were in a huge hall. It seemed even larger due to how empty it was. Stone pillars on the walls with a fireplace between each of them with some other smaller doors, along with two rows of decorative armors were everything they could see in there. The soft light that penetrated the windows was barely enough to lit the entire room even with the help of the many fireplaces.

"Let's find her quick…" Chung repeated as he started walking with one hand on his cannon, ready to swing it at any moment "Can you tell where you master is or something?"

Moby stayed quiet for a moment, it seemed like it was thinking, or rather connecting with her. After a few seconds, it came back to its lively motions and flew pass over Chung, heading for one of the doors. Chung ran behind it hoping that the small nasod was on the right track when he heard something metallic behind him. He looked back right in time to see an halberd being swung on his way. He was able to duck right in time to save his neck and immediately back pedaled. The armor sets that were peacefully decorating the sides of the room suddenly came to life. One by one they started moving with heavy and robotic motions until they formed a line. With they halberds raised they started walking towards him.

He loaded a shell and trained the cannon at the armor's formation. Unsure about who to hit first, he decided to shot at the center to disrupt them, and to his surprise, the shot was enough to make the armors crumble. Even though they were made out of steel, the magic pulling them together didn't seemed that strong. With their formation broken, it was easy to him to rush them, blocking their slow attacks with his cannon. They would be taken down with almost any hit from him, however the problem was that once on the ground they would slowly be reformed and stand up again. That, and the sheer number of them in the room made winning this fight impossible, and he was lucky to realize that soon. He locked at Moby who was beeping at him from one door and ran towards it. Ducking beneath a swinging axe and dodgy several more halberds on his way, he pushed the door and closed it behind him, hoping that those animated armors wouldn't know how to make it through it.

And it seemed to work, there wasn't any disturbance to the door as if the armors didn't even tried to get through. He turned around and realize that they were now on a long corridor that connected the central part of the castle with the left wing from the outside. There wasn't any armors there luckily, but there was another row of doors and even stairs. This place was a real maze, if it weren't by the help of Moby he would have almost no hope to find Eve here. Even with Moby guidance it was hard to narrow her position down precisely, so he had to resort to try all these doors. The rooms they lead into were pretty different from the main hall. Most of them seemed to be normal living rooms, storages or kitchens. They were small, with a nice fireplace on each of them, comfortable looking furniture, beautiful carpets and paintings. They looked like the perfect cozy shelter from the storm outside. However he didn't saw anybody. Not Eve, not the inhabitants of the castle, not even staff personnel. Someone had to lit up all those fireplaces, he thought; so there should be someone there at least. There was an ominous feeling that only grew the more he wandered into the castle.

He reached the stairs on the hallway and decided to go up, he was now so distracted by the boring rooms behind the doors that he didn't realize there was someone behind him. For when he finally turned around, he was smacked and pushed down by someone that he was only able to see for a second. Moby beeped and tried to hit the aggressor only to be covered by a black fabric and be put into a sack. It tried to make its way out violently jerking around but the person holding it was strong enough to handle both of them.

* * *

A orange log of endless data scrolled down in front of her eyes. All she could see was countless logs and reports flashing on her eyes until they finally started to die out. She was finally able to open her eyes and awake in an unknown room. She was in a bed, the first thing she did was to feel her face. The deep injuries she took on the fight against the werewolf were now gone, except for the round gem on her forehead, where she still could feel small cracks, but it wasn't nothing serious. She was recovered, however…

Remy flew into her, almost pushing her back on the bed landing on her chest, it beeped as if it was afraid of having lost its master. Eve was shocked at first, but was finally able to cradle the white drone on her arms and pet it until it started to behave as usual. Only then she finally analyzed the room. It was a small one, there was a fire lit and some food on a cart next to the bed. A window open that leaded into a balcony from where Eve could see the blizzard she was in just hours ago. She got out of bed and realized that she was wearing some strange black robe. She recalled her white drone to her side.

"Where is Moby?" She asked. There was a silence between the two of them, however you could tell how they were communicating with an internal network just by looking at Eve's face. She reacted with subtle gestures as the information came in "I understand. So Chung is alive then? I guess that's the best possible outcome."

Eve let the white drone wander the room while she walked towards the door. She tried it but found it locked. She then tried the balcony, but she was way too high to flee from there. She was able to see the tower with the blinding light from where the storm was emanating.

"I'll assume that whoever locked me here is also the responsible for that," She thought to herself. She was a bit relieved about how the situation turned out. She couldn't believe how easily she allowed herself to be critically damaged like that. "Maybe I shouldn't have allowed Chung to join that fight…" She thought to herself, but realistically, it would have been impossible for her to win it alone. Sure, if Chung weren't there she could have easily ran away from the monster…

Her chain of thought was interrupted by Remy, who beeped at her with something that could sound sarcastic for anyone who speaks beeps. "I'm not pushing him away," Eve protested at the drones beep, but it spoke again, this time a bit longer than before "I realize that I always do that, but the reason I always sortie alone in my quests is so I don't have to care about them getting hurt or something,"

The drone beeped again, but Eve ignored it this time, she heard someone coming on the other side of the door. She moved near the window before they opened the door. A woman's face peeked through the half opened door. Eve could only see half her face as she hided behind the entrance. She was a blonde young looking girl, with crystal green eyes. They looked so beautiful that Eve felt a strange sensation on her back when looking into them.

"You're awake!" She exclaimed, finally opening the door and coming into the room, revealing her tall and slim figure clad in a white robe that showed just enough skin to highlight her gorgeously distributed proportions "Master would be happy."

She ran into the room towards Eve with an honest smile in her face, yet Eve quickly summoned a spear and pointed it at her, stopping the intruder right on her tracks "Identify yourself!"

"Oh, sorry, you must be very confused… Master found you passed out in the snow and decided to bring you here. You don't have anything to fear, my dear. He'll take care of you."

Her words weren't enough to make Eve put her weapon down.

"I'm Elisa, one of the master's Kin. You'll meet my two sisters soon, but you have to meet with him now, it's very important. After all, he's your savior."

"If what you're saying it's the truth then I do owe him for saving my life, but I can't trust you. Why didn't he help my partner, who was fighting right next to where I was. And why is there such a suspicious tower in this castle that seems to be the root of all the trouble we went through?"

"You mean the young boy who was fighting our pet?" Elisa said, moving next to the food cart. She made a gesture with her hand the thing suddenly started rolling slowly out of the room "Don't worry about him, he already arrived at our home. He should be on the basement by now, enjoying my younger sister hospitality."

"Your pet? That thing nearly killed me, and you expect me to happily thank you for saving me from the danger you caused?" Eve asked, pointing the spear even higher now. If the girl in that room would even blink she would just shove it through her throat.

"I understand your frustration, my dear. However, it was necessary, after all, master has chosen you. He was so sad when you left this place some days ago, he thought you would never come back into this mountain, that's why he was so anxious this time…"

The food cart came back into the room pushed by the same mysterious magic than before, however this time it was loaded with clothes. The girl picked up a black robe that looked like hers and held it out as if she were imagining how it would fit Eve.

"Put on some nice clothes, I'll came to pick you up in a few minutes and we'll go see our master," She said with her happy face and left the room.

She was left alone thinking. These people had the chance to actually kill her, it would've been as simple as abandoning her in the snow. But they did bring her in and tend to her injuries. She wasn't sure how they managed to heal such deep wounds so easily, but considering that they had some sort of magic abilities they must have used them. And at the same time, they were the ones who sent that beast after them, and they also seem to be the culprits of creating the storm.

She walked near the cart an examined the clothes. Most of them were white or black robes, with few variety on design. Open on the sides, with long cleavage, open skirt… She wondered what kind of person was this master they talk about. And also thanked that the one they gave her was a normal one. She decided to not get changed at all and try to open the door. This time she was able to go through, followed by Remy. She found Elisa in the hallway, tending to a flower pot over a table next to the wall. This hallway was filled with pictures and other expensive looking decorations, from china vases to porcelain figures. The floor was covered by a long carpet with a royal red color and a beautiful gold pattern. The whole place was lighted up by a warming yellowish light coming from the many candles on the walls.

"You don't want to get changed?" Elisa questioned "Doesn't matter, master will be glad to see you either way," She moved next to Eve and gestured for her to walk ahead.

It was an awkward walk, Elisa was right behind her, Eve would glance at her from time to time and she would answer with a pretty smile. This girl was strange. All about her seemed overly beautiful. She moved with grace and agility, as if she were weightless. Her clothes fluttered around her skin, giving it an ethereal feeling, and yet at the same time her skin looked so invitingly soft and carefully tanned. Her eyes had an intense gaze on them, and once you look into them you seem to be sucked into a neverending stare. Eve couldn't help but wonder if this was part of her magic as well. This level of beauty was surely unnatural.

She finally reached the other end of the hallway. A gilded door stood on her way and Elisa passed next to her to open it. She stayed at her side, gesturing for Eve to get inside, before closing it behind her. She was now I'm a gloomy room. The only light came from a lamp on a desk at one of the sides. There was tall libraries on both sides, and a carpet that went from the door to a few steps on the other side of the room. A slightly elevated position with a gaudy chair on it. And there was the person they referred as master. He was a young man with jet black short hair carefully arranged around his face. Two red eyes with an intense glare on top of his solemn aura. He was sitting on his throne, waiting for Eve to come closer. The man was wearing some kind of formal clothing, similar to a suit, although it looked way too antiquated. He had an impressive amount of big rings on his fingers, as well as a golden medallion on his neck. The expensive clothes and the jewelry, as well as the castle and everything else reflected how wealthy this man was. Something that would have impressed almost anyone else, but surely didn't had much impact on Eve.

"Greetings my Lady. I'm glad that you decided to meet with me," He said, standing up and walking towards her. He reached for her hand with a bow. Eve recognized this already dated courtesy, and just wanting to get over with it, she decided to follow him. The man carefully held her hand and kissed her fingers before standing up again. She would say he was looking happy, but it was hard to tell, his face was a mixture of curiosity, happiness and seriousness. As if her arrival there was at the same time a cheerful event and an important one.

"Not like I had another option," Eve stated, staring into his red eyes.

The man pointed with his hand to a couple of comfy looking chairs. Eve silently took a seat and waited for this mysterious person to give some kind of explanation.

"Now, Eve; I know you're full of questions, but I'm afraid you'll have to find the answer to them on your own. I need to prepare for a very special occassion. You see, now that you are here I have an offer for you…"

"How do you know my name?" Eve questioned. She was pretty sure that any offer this man could have wouldn't be beneficial for her.

"Elisa told me, she was able to know a lot about you when she healed you." He said, sitting in front of her "Now, about this offer…"

"And how did she do that?" Eve questioned. As far as she knew, nobody should be able to access her memory like that.

"She has her methods. I can see it in your eyes, you already noticed how special she is, right? You're clever. Incredibly clever… and beautiful too, Eve. That's why I chosen you."

"Why should I care about that? I still have questions to ask." Eve protested.

"The tower, right?" he said, getting ahead her question "I know, it's a worrying phenomena, but I'm sure you'll understand soon why…"

Eve was about to speak once more, but the man in front of her once again got ahead "The white werewolf that attacked you? I apologize, I ordered she to bring you back in one piece, but their kind never listens. She'll get punished for it, be sure."

Eve stood up. The way that man spoke was unnerving. She was tired from this. Her priority was to find Chung and take down whatever was causing this storm. She didn't had time to chat with some stranger that refused to realize the wrong on his doing.

"Dear, I'm afraid you're not ready yet to listen to my offer. Don't worry, I understand, they were like you before. And look at them now. Listen, I'll let you go so you can think about it. I have the feeling that it will be better like this. You're smart enough to find out by yourself, after all."

Eve turned to this man, who was already returning to his throne. She wanted to stab him with a spear and force him to spit out what was going on, but she felt like doing so would only make things more complicated than they already were.

"I'll give you permission to roam the castle as much as you want. Just don't go outside, it's really dangerous, and I couldn't forgive myself if something would happen to you. If you need anything, Elisa and her sisters are at your service, don't hesitate to make use of them. They are really talented girls."

She looked at him before finally getting out of the room. Slightly confused, she wondered why would he give her permission to do whatever she want on his castle. Elisa was surely waiting outside, with the same stupid perfect smile on her face. Eve was expecting her to ask about their meeting, but she didn't said a word. She did follow her once Eve started walking back to her room.

"I want to go meet with Chung," Eve said, once she reached the door of the room she woke up in.

"I would gladly take you with him, but I don't know where he is right now. You can explore the castle if you like, maybe you'll find him." Elisa said.

"Then I want to go up that storm-generating tower," Eve requested.

"Of course, follow me."

Another awkward walk. They passed through several hallways, doors and small rooms. The castle looked like a real maze, however they didn't come across nobody else on their way. The place was awfully empty and, at the same time; everything was perfectly tidied: every fireplace was lit, the carpets were clean, the furniture didn't had any dust on it. There wasn't even spiders on the corners, the only life in the castle right now were the two of them. Eve started to feel an unsettling feeling, it was like the castle itself was about to crumble on top of her. A dreadful ominous aura that emanated from every stone. She didn't need Aisha's help to tell that this place was under some kind of dark magical effect.

They finally reach the base of the tower, an spiral stair was the only way to climb it, so they continued their awkward walk to the zenit. Eve didn't want to talk to this person, as far as she knew, they were the enemy, and she was but a hostage. They were trying to earn her confidence, but it would take a lot more than that to do it, specially after all the trouble she went through because of them. They finally reach a halt on the stairs. It was a round room decorated with beautiful blue tiles that created the picture of a blue haired woman on the ground. There was one single door in there, the problem was that it was covered in ice. A thick layer of ice that deformed the door reflection on the other side was spreading through the wall. Judging by the looks of it, it had slowly formed by the pass of time.

"Beyond that door is my older sister: Sarah. Unfortunately, as you can see, we can't reach her by now," Elisa explained. Her bright pretty smile was gone and now replaced by a sad expression as she reached out for the ice.

"What happened?" Eve questioned. If she was trying to get her empathy with some sad story, she wouldn't fall for it.

"Sarah was really skilled when master met her, that was what grabbed master's attention from her. She used her ice magic to punish criminals and help the good people, but doing so she created some powerful enemies. To keep the story short, Sarah had to run away from everything she loved in order to protect them, and then…"

Eve wanted to prompt her to skip all of that. She wasn't curious about that story at all, she was only interested in why they created this storm. To her surprise, as she was thinking about this, Elisa changed her expression.

"Sorry, I'm boring you with my story. Right to the matter, right?" She said, walking away the door and next to Eve "Once Sarah joined us, her powers started developing and growing stronger, which was to be expected. However, one day she started to lose her control over them. And, as you can see now; her ice magic simply overflows from her body in an uncontrollable torrent. She feels so guilty about it that she locked herself up there, she's trying to contain her powers inside the barrier she made herself… it's so sad, she's been so many days without getting feed..."

In summary, it was a monster out of control. Eve would gladly use her junk breaker to pierce through the ice and put an end to it, but now that the source of the storm was identified, another matter became top priority: finding Chung.

"But don't let her accident worry you. Have you already considered the master's offer?" Elisa questioned, already walking towards the stairs.

"He didn't explained to me what the offer was," Eve said. Not to mention that she wasn't nowhere near considering it.

"Oh, how playful," Elisa said, with an entertained smile on her face "He wants you to find out about… I see. Then, I'll better leave you alone with your meditations. Call me if you need me, I'll be right there in the blink of an eye."

Elisa started going down the stairs, and even when Eve followed her, she already disappeared as soon as she was out of sight. Whether it was magic or just agility, Eve didn't had time to spare, she descended the tower herself. You don't need much imagination to guess where they would be keeping Chung. If he was captured, they most likely took him into the lower levels of the castle, were usually you could find the dungeons.

"Remy, I'm detecting Moby's presence, but there's something disrupting it. Can you narrow its position?" Eve requested. Moving through this maze without any guidance could be a problem. The white drone booted up its scans and silently processed the area around it, but after a long load it shock it's body with a sad beep.

So the only direction they had was to actually go downstairs as much as they could. Truth being told, she was starting to worry. She didn't know how much time she was passed out, and how Chung survived the fight. He could even be dying right now, and would be oblivious to it. What if she did a mistake? Maybe she should have attacked Elisa right on spot and search for him, after all, there seems to be nobody else here to fight her. Was it a judgemental mistake?

No. She stopped her descend and leaned against the wall to take a deep breath. She was allowing her doubts to put her in panic. Chung was alright, she knew that much thanks to Moby. Even when the black drone was annoying at best, it was extremely reliable in this kind of situation. Eve spent so many time working on it, trying to give him that complex quality that humans like to call bravery. Surely, Remy would never back off on her commands, but Moby was different. It was brave. It will fight even against all odds, when all seems lost, and even more: the black drone would be proud of doing so. As if that were its own purpose of existence, just being the brave knight of its master.

And that bravery was inspiring. Eve resumed her search, finally reaching the base of the tower. The rows of doors and hallways didn't matter to her, she was looking for a way to access the lower levels.


	10. Back to Hamel

Chung woke up on a dark cell. His vision was blurry for a moment when he stood up. He was locked in a small and humid cell made of mossy stones and rusty bars. He could hear the sound of water flowing somewhere as well as the distant howling of the wind. The place wasn't warmth, but it wasn't nearly as cold as the blizzard outside. He had been stripped of his cannon and armor, and Moby was nowhere to be found. He pushed his face to the bars trying to see outside the cell. There was only a dark hallway that lead into a poorly illuminated room that he could only see a small part of it through its door. He tried calling for someone, but there wasn't an answer.

"Great, now I have to look for a way out here…" He complained to himself while examining the rusty bars.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" A voice suddenly said behind him. Chung turned around so fast that he felt dizzy again. He didn't realize there was someone else in the cell. And he couldn't blame himself for it. The other person there was a short girl. She was somehow hanging upside down from the ceiling. Her lips were between her teeth in a overly happy gesture, as if she were a kid that just got a new toy. She let go of her invisible support and landed in front of him "It's dangerous outside."

She looked like a doll. Her skin was even whiter than Eve's, and totally devoid of any kind of imperfection, as well as her well keeped black hair, which was left untied cascading over her shoulders. She covered herself with a red robe, and carried what looked like a dagger on her hip. Chung was unsure of what to make out of that situation. He wanted to ask for the girl's identity, but she stopped him with her hand.

"I'm sorry hitting you so hard, I thought you were dead," She stopped to giggle "But you are tougher than I expected."

"Are you the one that attacked me? Who are you?!" Chung demanded, though his commands weren't as imposing as he thought without his armor and cannon.

"Call me Ann. It's nice to finally be able to meet you, Chung. But don't get so alarmed, to be honest you were the one sneaking into our property," She complained back.

Although she was right, there was a good reason for him to be here. "Of course I was sneaking in, I came here to free my partner."

"Oh, yeah; the white haired girl. Don't worry about her, my sister took care of her wounds. She's fine now, maybe you'll see her." Ann said, she was lazily pacing through the cell, ignoring the menacing look in Chung's eyes.

"Like hell I would buy that, take me out of here or I'll have to make you do it. You just took me by surprise before, but I wont allow that to happen again."

"You shouldn't really say things you may regret…" She said, however her voice sound as if she was behind him instead. Chung instinctively looked behind to be startled by Ann. She was right there, outside the cell, with the same playful look in her eyes. He had to double check looking at the place she was standing in right a second ago. And she was nowhere to be seen. She moved from that point to outside the cell in the blink of an eye. Not even that, even faster, as he was already hearing her behind him while she was still in front of him.

"That was a mere trick," She said, answering the question that Chung didn't had time to make "Don't be alarmed Chung, I'm not here to hurt you. Actually, master told me to take care of you, so it's in my best interest that you are doing well."

"How do you know my name?" He asked. Still feeling confused by what just happen, he was now feeling even more puzzled. She was here to make sure he was doing well. That was awfully nice for his captor.

"Oh, right, you don't know yet. Let's call it magic then, to keep things simple," Ann said. While magic could be the reason, he was pretty sure there was something more hidden in her words.

All of the sudden, he heard a familiar roar and looked down the dark hallway to see a beast he thought it was dead. The white werewolf from before suddenly entered the illuminated part of the room. Chung could see the horribly darkened neck of the creature still painfully distorted. An injury that should have killed it, but that apparently was only enough to put it to rest for a while. The beast stumbled around the hallway, crawling its way through it. It passed Chung's cell and the girl in front of it without even raising its claws. He was surprised to see it so peacefully head for the light room at the end of the hallway.

"Oh, she's finally back. Poor thing, you really made a number on her, huh? Don't worry, she'll be fine." Ann explained seeing Chung's confused face.

"It should be dead. I broke its neck with my cannon,"

"Yeah. Werewolves, right? There are legends that say that they can only be killed with silver. Well, I don't know about that, but I can tell you that fire works too." Ann elaborated, shrugging and heading for the room after the beast "Call me if you need anything,"

As soon as she disappeared through the door, Chung moved away from the bars. If this creature was here, he should try to get his cannon as fast as possible.

"Eve… I'm sorry but you'll have to wait a bit longer…" He said to himself.

"I think I waited long enough, don't you think?" A familiar voice said. And for the second time Chung turned around startled. But this time there wasn't nobody hanging from the ceiling. He narrowed his eyes, now that they got used to the dark he was able to distinguish a small ventilation vent on the wall. Eve's voice came through it, sounding slightly distorsionated.

* * *

Although the castle was big and the rooms were arranged in a weird manner, Eve found it fairly easy to reach the basement. The place drastically changed, as the well tidied rooms and overly decorated walls turned into mossy stone and soggy floors. There wasn't any carpet, painting, furniture or any other sign of the wealth from the rooms above. Every room here was either empty or filled with dust covered crates. The entire place smelled like it was abandoned for years. Eve wandered alone in this dark corridors, having only Remy's torch as a light source until she finally encountered an already know face. Elisa was waiting for her next to some stairs.

"Eve, did you get lost? This area of the castle isn't very nice, and there are some dangerous things down there, like the creature that attacked you…" Elisa warned once Eve came closer.

"Is my friend also down there?" Eve questioned.

"Yes, I just checked on my younger sister, and he is down there. Don't worry, he's fine. And he'll be, after all, he's going to be needed." Elisa said, and didn't elaborate any further. She walked towards Eve expecting her to leave the place.

"I want to talk with him," Eve requested.

"But master forbid me from allowing you to go down there. I'm sorry, I can't disobey him,"

The situation was starting to look grimm. Chung was in a cell, and that means that anything that she does could end up in really bad news for him. Eve wanted to push further, try to go down even if Elisa opposed her and see him, but the risk was too much of a gamble. She needs to think now. Too many things have happened in less than an hour, but still, it was pretty troubling not being able to know about him in so many time.

"There is a way, though… I can lead you to a room connected with his cell. It's on this floor, so we wouldn't be getting into trouble," Elisa said, already walking and waiting for Eve to follow her.

Eve decided to follow her. There was a fundamental problem with this. As nice as Elisa was, she was her captor. This people was trying really hard to earn her trust, but at the same time they resort to all kinds of stratagems to keep her in a state of confusion. Elisa walked into one of the storage rooms and pushed aside some crates. Eve saw a metallic patch on the wall near the floor. With a few holes on it, it served as a way to keep the air inside those inner rooms flowing. She got closer to it and surely could hear Chung's voice on the other side.

She felt an unnatural wave of joy after knowing that he was alive that she immediately suppressed and prepared to convey a message for him. She looked at Elisa who was still standing there. She excused herself and walked out of the room. At least it seems that she'll give them some intimacy.

"How are you doing?" Eve asked through the ventilation shaft.

"I should be the one asking that… last time I saw you, you were lying dead in a pile of snow," Chung answered.

"You can save the sarcasm, we are in a delicate situation right now."

"Are you in another cell?" Chung asked.

Eve needed to update him on everything. From the people she met on the castle to the weird offer they made, and the source of the storm. It would be better if she had all this information already shorted out, but due to how things were happening, she was having some trouble with that.

"I found the source of the blizzard. Also, this people seem to have some special interest in me, for some reason."

"Did you manage to stop the blizzard? Also, could you get here and take me out of this cell?"

"I'm afraid not. They allowed me to walk around this castle mostly free, but I feel like they just want to held me captive without me realizing it. I'd say they want to earn my trust for something."

"Well, it sounds better than being in this cell."

"It's fine. I'll look for a way to get you out of there… stay out of trouble."

Chung waited for a bit before saying anything, but it seemed like Eve was already gone. Kind of a let down, she didn't seemed too much affected by what was happening, or at least not as much as he would have expected. He wandered inside his cell, trying to think, but only when doing this he realized that he was exhausted. Since they went out of that cave he didn't had a single moment to rest, being his time unconscious the only breather he had. He actually considered having some sleep, if Eve was really going to take him out of there he would need it.

* * *

Eve went back to her room, thanks to Elisa indications she was starting to have a mental map of the castle. Once she was alone again, she cleared some space on her room and began taking notes using her own blue display. She began by sorting out all the new info she had, and then tried to elaborate it. But she wasn't feeling well. Suddenly her head was hurting. She wasn't feeling tired, but something was off. It was as if she had been thinking too much, if that was even possible. As hard as she tried, she wasn't able to put her thoughts in mind. And just then, she remembered that she was forgetting something.

What was the offer that strange master made? He didn't explained it, he just say to think about it. It didn't made sense, or at least it didn't before. There's only one thing that man could offer her, and it was some kind of power. Elisa said it already, how the older sister power grew after joining them. But what kind of power? And more importantly, at what prize?

Eve knew better than to trust the philanthropy of such a suspicious person, not to mention that she already knew what could happen if it goes wrong. And it suddenly gave her an idea. She walked into the balcony and stared up at the frozen tower. It was a longshot, but in her current situation it was way better than doing nothing. She ripped the lower part of her robe to allow her legs to move more freely and without a second thought she immediately jumped onto the wall over the balcony, ignoring Remy's alarmed complaints.

The insides of the castle were pretty well taken care off, but the façade was still old. There was huge gaps between the stones to provide footing, not to mention some of them had even missing corners. It was fairly easy for her to reach the roof of the central part of the castle. She walked slowly over the darkened tiles that made the cover of the castle eyeing the tower in front of her. There was some windows up there that may not be encased in ice like the door. Remy tried to dissuade its master from climbing the tower, but she was already checking what would be the most suitable path for the ascend.

"I can't elevate myself with you alone Remy, unless Moby joins us again, there's no other way. And I won't wait quietly for this people to make more schemes,"

She finally decided on a path and started climbing the tower. The lower level was easy enough to cover. Although Eve never had to climb before, she quickly adapted to the task. As she ascended through the tower wall, she started to feel the temperature dropping either due to the proximity of the cold source or the edge of the barrier. She was almost at the pinnacle, only the corbels were in her way now. Trying to climb them without any help would be a suicide, luckily she had Remy still with her. While one drone wouldn't be enough to enable her flying capabilities, she could use it as a temporary bost.

Remy scouted the parapet for a suitable support point. There was a small breach on the stone railing that could serve as an entry point. It got in position, her master didn't hesitate before jumping towards it, Remy moved quickly to her back and boosted her upwards, just enough for Eve to reach for the edge.

She managed to climb the final part and finally sit in the parapet for a quick rest. She eyed down the long path she ascended. The balcony on her room was barely visible from up there. Once she recovered her breath, she stood up and examined the tower again. There was several windows that didn't had any glass on them but instead a thick layer of ice, pretty much like the door inside. She continued checking the different windows and doors that led into the tower, but all of them seemed perfectly frosted. Eve wasn't willing to admit that all this effort was in vain, but it looks like Sarah was really interested in not being bothered.

"Can you fly?"

The voice came out of nowhere, startling her and the little Remy. She looked around before realizing the faint shadow at the other side of a freezed window.

"Are you Sarah?" Eve asked. The shadow stood there without saying anything. As much as she wondered why, no matter how much she would wait, Sarah didn't said anything more "Yeah, I can fly. Not right now since I'm missing one of my drones but I can still lift of the ground."

Her answer prompted the shadow to move. Eve thought she left but she saw her in the next window.

"Then how did you came up here?"

"I climbed,"

Again, she saw something moving on the other side of the ice. She followed her, hoping that she would eventually came out or something.

"Are you here to take me away?"

Eve couldn't understand what she meant by that. She was here to interrogate this person, but at the same time her target was to stop her from spreading the storm again. However, communicating with her seemed a bit harder than expected. But she wasn't surprised, after all, this person has been imprisoned here for who knows how many time.

"I'm not, I just want to talk with you," Eve answered.

"Oh, how sad."

As the voice answered, Eve could hear ice cracking. She looked up and saw one of the windows clearing. It wasn't the ice melting, it was being morphed. It's irregular shape slowly became smoother, magically changing from a white cluster of ice into a totally transparent glass. Eve peeked through it, on the other side was a room poorly lightened. Everything was in the darkness and she could only make shadows out of it, except for the single person in there. A young woman, standing now on the center of the room, on top of a red bed. Her skin was pale like her sister, and so it was her eyes and hair. The strands of her mane were totally rigid, looking like ice, and a white mist emanated from her skin, descending towards the ground where it formed a thin fog. On top of her was a huge stalactite that reached into the dark top of the tower. Eve could see the heart of the storm inside the pillar of ice. A blinding light that poured freezing energy outside. There was some kind of magical barrier keeping all that energy from flooding into the castle.

"Oh, you're the one Elisa was talking about. I see, I understand now. She told me what do you want, but since you're here I guess you hadn't decided yet, huh?" Sarah said.

"What are you talking about?" Eve questioned. Talking through the ice was a bit frustrating, she would have prefered to be inside with her, but judging by the looks of the room, she may freeze to death in there.

"Master and my sisters are pretty intelligent, and you must be very confused. Let me warn you, Eve; what happened to me was a consequence of my own recklessness. I bet you're still considering the offer, even without knowing what it implies."

"Why don't you tell me?" Eve proposed.

"You already know, what you don't know is the part that they don't want to show you. Unlike many humans, you know what do you want. I know you'll accept the offer, that's why I'm warning you."

That wasn't the reason for Eve to be up here. She came here to assess the situation,this was still her quest. But clearly the other person had something else in mind. She didn't know how this people was able to know so much about her, while she never met them before, as strange as it was, she had to bear with it and keep pressing her own target.

"There's something I need to ask you. Why are you spreading this huge blizzard?"

"Spreading?" She answered, she laughed for a bit before continuing "I'm actually containing it. As you may already know, I can't control this power. That's why I closed myself up here, so I can use all my might into creating the barrier that it's containing the storm."

So the sphere shape blizzard was caused by her barrier trying to contain the storm? Eve was thinking to herself as the girl continued her explanation.

"But as you can see, I can't keep it under control entirely, every day the barrier expands a little, and it'll reach the breaking point at one time or another. Once that happens…" She made a pause before continuing "The barrier would only break when all my magic is spend, and, without my magical power to keep the storm inside me, I'll die.."

Which means that the problem of the blizzard would solve itself, however Eve was worried about the consequences that breaking the barrier would have.

"How come you have this terrible power in your body?" Eve questioned.

"I was born like this. Ever since I have memory, I was able the blue El energies at will. But it wasn't until I grow up that I discovered that my powers were growing too fast for me. I joined my master thinking that the power he offered me could help me keeping this under control but… well, you know the rest."

"Born with this power? That seems a little too impressive," Eve answered.

"It is. I wouldn't believe it hadn't I experienced it myself. The place where I used to live has many legends about my… kind. They call me… us: Snow women."

Eve wasn't familiar with popular legends, but in her journey with the El Search Party she saw enough things to not be impressed about this. A creature that has outstanding magical powers like this, she actually generates energy without effort, and she only exhaust herself while trying to contain it. It was such a wasted potential.

* * *

"Hey, wake up!"

Chung opened his eyes. He had a short blissful feeling of calmness before remembering where he was and who was talking. Ann was outside his cell, with her face pressing against the bars and her cheerful smile waiting for him to say something. He blinked a couple of times just to make sure he was awake and this was not a dream before standing up. He wondered how many time he slept.

"What is it?" He lazily asked.

"I'm bored, and you were just sleeping, let's do something entertaining!" Ann said.

"Did you wake me up to make fun of me?" Chung protested, he was about to go back to sleep.

"No! Come on, you slept a lot already. Isn't there anything you want to do?" She asked.

"Well, I would like to get out of this cell and look for my friend," He said.

"I see… That wouldn't be a problem, letting you out of this cell; however I don't know if you'll be able to find your girl. But I bet it'll be funny watching you trying to do it."

As she said, she snapped her fingers. The door cell slowly opened, making a rusty sound.

"Are you really letting me out of the cell?" Chung questioned, not trusting her intentions at all.

"Yeah, master said it would be fine to do so, as long as you stay with me," She said, gesturing for him to follow her.

He was still doubtful, but still followed her. They crossed the door Chung saw the werewolf disappear through last time. It wasn't anywhere near. The only thing inside that room was a long table with rests of food in it. This room was most likely the place where they feed it. They kept walking through doors and hallways. All he could see was what seemed to be the large kitchens of the castle. Many ovens and other instruments filled the walls of the rooms they passed.

They finally reached the stairs that lead them into the normal parts of the castle. Unlike the mossy and stony undergrounds, the obstentous and nice decorations here were warming and welcoming. The moment he stepped out, he saw a familiar black ball flying straight into him. The black drone Moby beeped happy from seeing him again.

"That thing has been wandering around the castle ever since I let it free, it was starting to annoy me," Ann protested giving Moby a stern look.

That was strange. Chung thought Moby would have already joined Eve back, probably it was trying to do it, but wasn't able to found her. However if he remembers right, the little drone can sense its master position, so it doesn't make sense.

"Now, you want to look for your friend, don't you?" Ann said. The drone looked at her with an aggressive stare. It moved behind Chung and stayed there like it used to do with Eve, ready to attack at his command.

"Yeah, and I hope you don't get in our way," Chung said.

Ann did nothing more than giggle at his suspicion. While Chung resumed his search through the castle, she merely follow him from a distance. It was a bit unnerving at first, but he quickly got used to her, and focused on the task at hand. He continued searching through the many doors and hallways, sometimes calling her out loud, but nobody was found. Not Eve, not any of the other mentioned sisters, neither the so called master. Not even a member of the staff or any other guest. It was literally him and Moby with Ann. The castle was perfectly tidy, the fire was burning in every room, there was no dust on the furnitures, no moist in the walls, not even dirty footprints on the hallways. Taking care of such huge castle would take at least the effort of a hundred of servants, yet this place seemed to run on a single young girl care.

"And how did you two came to know each other? You and the girl I mean," Ann suddenly asked. Chung looked back at her, thinking about dismissing the conversation, but he thought that maybe he could get her to talk if he gives her some chat.

"We're on the same team together," He answered back.

"Yeah, the El Search Party, wasn't it? A really unusual team, with an strange goal, if you ask me," Ann kept talking, she passed him and walked backwards to take a look at his face "And why do you want to find her so much?"

"To complete our quest," He said, paying no attention to her presence.

"Is that all? I thought there was something more," She said. Now she was walking, or rather skipping, in front of him.

"I guess that is all, indeed. I bet you'll get the same answer if you'd ask her," Chung added, stopping to check the

"Oh, I wonder if that's true?" She said with a smile "And what about you, Chung, how did you came to be a part of the team?"

"I joined them after escaping the demon invasion on my homeland," He casually answered.

"That's interesting," Ann said, despite her words, she didn't look even a little surprised "Hey Chung, do you want to take a rest?"

He looked at her, she was still smiling. Ann moved to a near door and pushed it, Chung peeked inside to see a cozy room… It was decorated pretty similar to the guest room in his house. The white and black tiles on the floor that contrasted with the warm brown walls. Two columns of beautiful marble, erected on both sides of a window from where he could see…

Chung had to rush to the window to believe it. From there he could see the docks and the bridges crossing to both sides of the bay. He could even hear the voices of the crowd, trading fish in the markets, and the caws of the seagulls, flying around the ships as they arrived filled with fresh fish. Even the salty smell of the sea could be felt from there. The bridges were intact, the buildings had their pure white walls unstained. There was no sign of demons, or any of their destruction. He stood for a while near the window, caressed by the smooth feeling of the blinds, before finally moving away from it.

"How is this possible?" He asked, looking back to Ann, who was serving tea from a trailing for him.

"If you want to know, I could tell you, but that would break the spell," Ann said, with her mischievous expression on her eyes.

Chung wasn't a fool. He knew this wasn't real. The real Hamel wasn't like this anymore. The bridges collapsed under the constant bombardment of fire from the demons. The white beautiful buildings had their façades burned and cracked, and there was no people around anymore. He was on top of a mountain, and he could still see the castle's hallway through the open door.

But for a moment, he felt back at home. This room, and the view from the window, looked exactly the same as he remembers. He even felt like his mother could enter the room through the door at any moment now.

But he knew this wasn't real. It was heartbreaking, but it was the truth.

"I want to know. I already know this is not real. Is it some kind of magic?" He said. Even knowing it wasn't real, he took a seat and accepted her tea.

"Not exactly. It's more of a reconstruction. I took this dear memory from your mind and painted it over my illusion magic. I thought you would like it," Ann said, innocently pressing her fingers together.

"Well, I don't dislike it, but I found it a bit disturbing, considering what did you just said."

"Oh, I thought you would know. Master told me that humans are tremendously superstitious about our kind after all."

"Your kind? I bet people would be superstitious about someone who can read minds, but I never thought it would be possible." Chung said. He was enjoying the tea. It was sweet and warm, probably the best thing he tasted since the last time Aisha cooked for the team.

Knowing that this was but an illusion painted over a fragile fabric was disheartening, but at the same time. Just being able to stand in that room once again was like a bless. Like recovering a memory he already accepted lost forever. It was blissful and painful at the same time. He definitely would love to stay longer in this room now.

Ann stood up and walked in front of him. Playing with the small decorations over the fireplace self. A small collection of porcelain Hamel Paladins. Chung remembered those, he made them himself when he was a kid in school. He made them as a gift for his father. His old man loved them so much that he put them in display.

"Reading minds is an overused term, most of the time in the wrong way. There's ways to reach for someone's thoughts and memories, but it's not as easy as casting a spell on them," Ann started explaining "And we can get to those kind of things through a very important, and necessary, source."

She moved in a nervous way. It seemed like this wasn't the first time telling this story. She was worried of the outcome it might have. Or so Chung thought. It was his first time seeing her worried instead of cheerfully toying with him.

"That would be blood, of course," Ann finally said. Chung had to think about it for a second. He wasn't sure how blood would help her know things like this memory in his youth.

"Can you elaborate?" Chung requested, taking another sip of his tea.

"Come on, you just have to join the dots. Illusion magic, striking and alluring beauty, the red in our eyes and the white in our skin. Not to mention how we nourish on blood itself. Chung, I am a vampire."

He had to make an effort. He heard the word long ago, in some fictional books on a Hamel library. A creature of the night that has the ability to turn into a bat to fly at night and that supposedly drinks blood as their only food source. However all depictions that he saw about this creature were more similar of some kind of old and strange man, rather than a cute innocent looking girl.

As if his lack of reaction annoyed her, Ann moved in front of him to check if he was alright.

"Are you not surprised?" She asked.

Chung took another sip of his tea "You know, I saw an horde of demons destroy my homeland. A man somehow convincing a picturesque raze of ram-people to steal things before turning into a half machine. A flying island filled with robots that weren't pretty nice to us, some really strange stuff in a huge temple, a blizzard contained in a bubble on top of a mountain and even a werewolf attacking me. To be honest, adding a vampire to the list is not such a great deal."

"That was a bit anticlimactic, but I guess it's better than you freaking out and hiding beneath the sofa." Ann said, taking her seat again next to him.

"And, did you drank my blood? Is that why you know so much about me?" Chung questioned. To be honest, he wasn't quite pleased with the thought of it.

Ann laughed, she jumped around the room again, distracting herself as if these decorations where something totally new for her.

"I did. I didn't really needed to, but I can't really let pass such a nice meal when it's put in front of my eyes, you know? And yeah, whenever we drink blood from someone we get a deep and _intimate_ connection with them. There are some memories and thoughts inside everyone's mind that always get engraved in their blood."

"Knowing that you did that is a bit unsettling, to be honest," Chung said. He instinctively rubbed his neck at the though of it.

"You won't find any bite marks, don't worry. I'm not that messy anymore," She said with another sinister laugh.

"But you were able to get ahead of my words before, and I doubt those would be on my blood as well…" Chung said.

"You see, once you turn into a vampire, there are certain abilities that come with the package. Like a much better perception than any other human, or just keener senses in general. I can't read your mind but, just a look at you is enough. The way your pupils move when you speak, the change in your heart rate. Sweeting, blinking, moving your hands… Everything is totally exposed to my eye, and It's really easy for me to catch on. You could say it's like mind reading, but actually I'm just using that information to get ahead off you."

Chung reclined himself on the sofa. He finished his tea and waited for a bit. He wanted to stay in the room a little longer before going back to his duties, whatever they were. And this vampire girl was actually interesting, he would like to know more about her. He decided to settle down for a bit longer, just to take a well earned rest.

* * *

 _ **Hey! I hope you're enjoying the story.**_

 _ **When I started this fic my main idea was to introduce some fictional characters that aren't present in the game, however since there were too many I decided to reduce the selection to these two classics: werewolves and vampires.**_

 _ **However, I want to give to these werewolves a piece of folklore from my own land :D**_

 _ **Hope you keep reading till the end :3**_


	11. Illusions within illusions

Chung quietly stared through the window of the illusory room. There wasn't much going on outside. He had changed his clothes in the meantime. Ann gave him a white suit with blue stripes, a very typical style back then in Hamel. She said that she made it herself. If it was true or not Chung couldn't tell, however, the fabric was high quality. It was far more comfortable than going around in his underwear, and decently warm too, considering how thin it was.

Ann updated Chung on the current status concerning her older sister and the blizzard. The situation put him on a crossway. The revelation that these people were vampires, added to the discovery of the blizzard being one of them was upsetting him. However his worries were confirmed the moment the door of the fake room opened. Eve walked in, she wasn't even one bit surprised in seeing him there. She stood on the side of the room and waited for him to say something. Moby, however flew happily to her side, circling around her head and annoying Remy in the process. Eve rose her hands for the little black drone to rest on her arms. She caressed its hull while waiting for Chung to speak.

It wasn't until he turned away from the window and looked at her that he realized. He was searching for her. He ran towards her, happy to find her in one piece, already raising his arms for a hug when she stopped him.

"Chung, I'm glad to see that you have escaped that cell. I was about to go look for you, but Elisa told me you were here. What are you doing here?" Eve asked, there was a clear,annoyed tone, in her voice that was only reinforced by the way she impatiently tapped Moby's forehead with her nails.

"I'm sorry. As soon as Ann let me out of my cell I started looking for you, but then I arrive at this room and…" Chung stopped, he should carefully consider his wording here, after all, he wouldn't want to say that he forgot about her "Ann briefed me about the situation."

"She did, huh?" Eve said, she let Moby fly again around her and crossed her arms "Then I guess you know what we have to do now, right?"

"Yeah, I've been discussing it with Ann, there's a way that we might be able to help-"

"Help?" Eve interrupted, Chung was left with the words on his mouth as she moved closer to him with a stern look in her eyes "Chung, we need to take care of the source. We'll do it by any means necessary, you better not get in the way of the mission with your so called noble intentions, may I remind you the trouble you've fallen into with that mindset?"

"What are you saying? Are you proposing we kill her? We can't kill an innocent like that!" Chung protested.

"Innocent? Haven't you realized what kind of monsters these creatures are?" Eve asked.

"I know they are vampires, Ann told me. But that's no reason to dispose of them as if they were some kind of evil creature."

"But they are, look at what they did to you!" Eve said, moving her arms prompting Chung to look around.

"This is just a memory she brought back for me, I know, and don't be so concerned about it." Chung explained.

"What are you saying? The only thing I see here is a kid sitting in his underwear in a dusty room."

He took a time to process it. Still struggling to comprehend it, he glanced at Ann, who has been relaxing in the couch all this time. She looked back at him and shrugged.

"I forgot to tell you, she can't see any of this. I weaved this illusion for you, but if you want I can let her see as well," Ann explained.

But that wasn't necessary. Eve was already leaving the room. She stopped by the door and turned her head just enough to see him in the corner of her eye.

"I should have foreseen this. You saved my life out there, I guess it's my turn now to get you out of this…"

She exited the room, leaving Chung as puzzled as he was when she arrived.

"What did she mean by that?" Chung questioned, looking at Ann who merely shrugged at him.

Chung sighed. He was at a loss here. It was true that he failed to find her, but seeing that she was totally fine he didn't think the situation was that dire. What was troubling him the most was that she seemed to go back at her usual self. And after he thought they got a bit closer during this expedition in the mountain. He walked back to the window and rubbed his eyes for a moment.

"Tell me your plan to help your sister," He said, turning back towards Ann.

* * *

Eve walked down the hallway hastily. She turned many corners before checking if he was following her. Her two drones flew behind her with a confused look in their small shiny eyes. After she was sure nobody was coming after her, she finally stopped and sighed.

"Elisa," She said.

"You called?" Elisa answered, right behind Eve. Her sudden appearance startled the two drones who immediately moved into combat positions until Eve raised her hand to stop them.

"What happened to him?" Eve questioned. She knew that Chung was an idealist some times, but this was far beyond what the young boy could be.

"My little sister, Ann, is a master of illusions. She's quite strong for her age. But why are you concerned about that?" Elisa asked back.

"He knows that he saw an illusion, you did something more to him."

"Illusions within illusions. As I said, Ann is a master of that art. I don't know what she is trying to do with the prisoners mind, but it'll be alright as long as it doesn't interfere with us. Were you expecting him to do something?"

Eve remained silent. Even in this confusing situation she already made up her mind. Stopping the storm was her objective, and that didn't change. Her means to achieve that, however, took an interesting turn. She was ready to negotiate with them over the older sister.

"Elisa, Chung said you were vampires. I already knew you weren't humans, but since there's a name for it, I'm guessing there's also quite the story behind it. Am I right?"

"There are many stories, however most of them were lost a long time ago. People forgot about us, they discovered new things to be afraid off. Do you wish to hear some?"

"If those stories allow me to know more about your kind, then tell me."

* * *

"Ann, can I ask you something?" Chung said. They were moving to the castle arsenal, where his armor and weapons were supposed to be stored. Ann was about to start debriefing him on how to help her older sister. As before, she would skip ahead of him, as if she were a kid.

"Of course,"

"When we arrived at the village, we saw a werewolf there, attacking the villagers. Do you have anything to do with that?"

"Hmm… The only werewolf I know is our dear pet. And we didn't order her to go into the village. Maybe that one was a male attracted to her... Were you able to take it down?" Ann questioned, stopping in front of a large wooden door.

"Yes. And unlike your pet, this one didn't came back…" Chung answered.

"I see. Not all werewolf are equally strong. Our pet has strong regenerative abilities, but the one you saw was probably a newborn…" She said, pushing the door. On the other side was a large room that extended as far as the eyes reached. Every wall was covered in weapon racks, loaded with sword, waraxes, spears and almost any imaginable weapon. Organized by size, material, kind and many other standards, they lined the surroundings of the room. On the center however there were several glass cabinets reserved for more special weapons. These ones were far more beautiful, all of them seemed to be made with special care, as if they were created for some kind of heroic task or were property of an ancient hero.

"I see," Chung said, looking around the armory, already seeing his armor and cannon in the center of the room. The armor carefully placed onto a mannequin and the cannon standing right next to it "Does that mean that your werewolf is immortal?"

"No, not at all. If you were to kill it, you'll have to destroy the source of its power," Ann said, taking the globes of the Freutinier off the mannequin and handling them to him.

"What do you mean by that?" Chung asked, starting to fit his armor. While it was a magnificent state-of-the-art protection, putting it on was a complicated process. Although it was more flexible than any other armor, when putting it on one must make sure every piece has taking it's precise location with the body, otherwise it will lock itself and hinder his movement.

"The werewolves aren't born like that. They are humans that came in contact with a curse. Some of them are cursed when another werewolf attacks them, however there's another source for the curse. If a human wears the skin of a werewolf, it'll devour the wearer and turn them into their slaves," Ann explained pretending to have a spooky voice.

"So in order to kill it I would have to destroy it's skin?" Chung questioned. He was a bit confused about it.

"More or less. They can't stay into werewolf form forever, once every day the human must take the skin off to recover themselves. During that, the skin will be as harmless as any other fur coat."

His armor was finally set. He checked the destroyer before hanging it on his back. It was nice to be back in his armor, he was already missing it. Even when he really wants to take it off after a long day, being without it for so long definitely makes him feel restless. They left the arsenal, this time heading for the front door.

"Alright, enough werewolf lore. On to this mission," Ann said, her tone changing, "My sister uses a magical crystal made of El to contain the energy that seeps out of her body. This artifact was made by our master long ago, however; due to lack of materials, it's imperfect, and soon it will reach its capacity and break. However, I've been searching for a replacement already."

"Not far away from the village you passed through there's a temple in the forest. There's a crystal there that the elves used long ago to tune in with the water energies of the spirits… or something like that, I don't really care about it. But what I do care about is its magical properties. It is powerful enough to help my sister, and I want you to go and recover it."

"I see," Chung said. They were reaching the front door. He could see the storm swirlring in the distance. "I don't feel too happy about having to cross the storm again though... "

"Don't worry, I already have that solved… Now, listen. Once we get to the village, I need you to ask your friends to help you. That place seems to be dangerous, and it would be a shame if you died there…"

"But they can't abandon the village. Other than werewolves they are under attack by many other creatures!"

"I know, Chung; and that's why I'll go with you. I'll protect the village while all of you go into the forest and recover that artifact."

She gestured with her hands and the tall frontal doors began to open. The large chains that moved the mechanism moved on their own, as if a group of ghosts was operating the machines. They were about to go out when someone else arrived.

"Chung, you're committing a grave mistake going with her. She's deceiving you. Can't you see it?"

He turned around. Eve was there, and behind her was Elisa. She didn't say anything to protect her sister. The way these people behaved towards each other was confusing to say the least.

"Eve, I have been thinking about this. When we started this quest we didn't know what the source of the storm was. And I'm not willing to kill a person to complete our mission. And to be honest, I was hoping that you weren't either."

"It's not a person. She's a monster." Eve said, even through her cold voice and emotionless face, Chung could sense her anger.

"She was turned into a monster due to a cruel fate. And considering that, I know that killing her may seem like a merciful act, but I want to exhaust any other option even before starting to consider it," He said, and walked outside with Ann. She picked up a white cloth umbrella to protect her skin from the sun. Before letting the door close behind them, Chung added: "Eve, I thought you changed. These last few days working together, you seemed like a different person. But now I see that you're back to your old methods. Stepping on anything and anyone to complete your quest, not caring about anybody."

The mechanism moved again, shutting the large gate closed. Chung turned around and followed Ann along the bridge outside the castle. He looked at his feet while murmuring.

"But I don't want to see you turning into a murderer."

Eve stood in place, not saying anything. Not to Elisa, who had closed on her to check her face and not to her drones, who rested on her shoulders worried about their master. After a while, she turned around and walked away.

"I'm amazed that after all my efforts trying to turn him into a worthy human, I've ultimately failed…" Eve said "Ann might be an incredible illusionist. But, to fool that stupid boy all you need is a sad story."

Elisa walked behind her with an amused face. Her drones scorned her with their shiny eyes for that.

"Eve, you really care about that boy… Don't worry, he'll make it back safe. And your friends, too. We'll be needing them anyways."

"I believe that I did all that I could for him. Now, this is his decision. Even if it's a mistake, I can't do anything about it," Eve said.

* * *

"There's actually a better way out of this mountain," Ann said. They had already crossed the bridge, and she was pointing at a small hut near the edge of the great abyss below the castle. Chung hadn't seen it before, but there was some ropes handing right next to it.

"Are we going to climb down there?" Chung asked, not sure if he preferred the merciless storm instead.

"Nope. That's a… hmmm… what was it called?" Ann said, she finally was able to read the small sign on the hut "A cable car!"

From up close, Chung could see a wooden chamber hanged onto the cables. It had a strange mechanism that seemed to allow it to move along them. They boarded it and took a seat. He was slightly insecure about it.

"Don't worry, I boarded this several times already. Now, hang onto something!" Ann said, giving the complicated mechanism a slap. It came back to life and started moving. Too fast for his liking, however. Chung had to latch himself onto the seat to not be thrown outside the window as the fragile wooden car was abruptly propelled into the dark hole. It moved so fast that Chung thought something was going wrong, until it suddenly stopped descending and curved into a cave. Inside the cave, Chung could see many torches placed along the way that lit up the many spiky rocks that caressed the sides of the machine.

Finally, the dreadful journey reached its end as the carrousel suddenly stopped right next another wooden hut. It was hidden between large rocks and dense vegetation, but once they walked out, Chung was surprised to see that it was actually right next to the villagers farmlands. To think that they ascended the mountain by foot having this transport available made him feel like and idiot, although, considering how terrifying the descent was he couldn't complain.

"Chung, one more thing. Please, don't tell your friends or anyone else that I'm a vampire… People… tends to react inappropriately towards us. Just tell them that I'm a magician or something, would you?"

"Sure, I guess it makes sense." Chung said. He walked in front, pushing away the corn plants that the villagers had been grown on the fields. They hadn't reached the walls on the city when he finally saw a familiar face. A purple dot on top of a building signaled the presence of Aisha, she was observing the unusual movement on the crop fields ready to give the alarm when Chung started jumping and waving his hands at her. She finally realized it was him and called for the rest to meet with them.

"Chung!" Aisha yelled, running towards him. The rest of the team rushing to catch up with her "What happened? Where's Eve?... And who's that girl?"

"Slow down with the questions," Elsword said, patting Aisha on the back "Come on Chung, let's go inside and you'll tell us. You must be exhausted."

They moved into the town hall. Chung saw the village really changed. Most streets were blocked with poorly made barricades. There were many fires where the remains of many wolves and wild creatures waited to be burn and every citizen carried either a firearm or a sharp tool. It was like the village was under siege. But the most noticeable was the aura of dread that surrounded every villager. Not long ago these people must have been content and carefree farmers, but now looking at them you could only see fear while clutching the little weapons they had.

Chung explained to them in full detail what happened since they started the climb. Including the parts where they got separated and how they ended up in the castle, as well as what the source of the storm was. However, he cleverly left out the details about the castle's inhabitants true nature. He also told them about Eve intention to kill Sarah as well as the mission that Ann tasked Chung with.

"You should have stayed with Eve," Aisha said. She was the first one to talk of the four "I'm not saying that killing the source is the right thing, but you shouldn't have left her alone like that."

"Yeah, I agree, that's against our rules," Elsword added. To Chung it was funny that they mention such a thing when in the past Eve would always leave him alone to go complete the missions on her own.

"If there's a chance to help that person we should try it, but we can't leave the village undefended," Rena argued.

"I honestly think Eve is doing the right thing," Raven said, garnering the attention from everyone else in the team "We don't know if we can stop that blizzard even with the artifact that girl told you about. And, going by the way you described things to us, it seems like those people at the castle aren't trustworthy either."

"But killing one person… she can't stop her own power. Raven, you know better than anyone here what it's like to cause harm while not being able to control yourself!" Chung protested. The former mercenary seemed annoyed by his words, but he didn't say anything. He looked at Elsword and waited for him to make a decision.

For the first time since many days, Elsword seemed to be in deep thought. He wasn't willing to allow the sacrifice of a person for their quest to be completed, but there was the point that they still needed to protect the village, and the risk of the castle's people to be scheming something.

"Chung, I'm going to need your word. Are you absolutely sure that these people are to be trusted?" Elsword asked, looking at the young boy in front of him.

"Yeah."

"Then we will make preparation and leave immediately. Ann will stay here and protect the village. If what you said is true, then she'll be more than capable of doing it. We'll go into the forest and retrieve the artifact. If we leave now, we'll probably be back before night. Pack light and meet up at the fields."

* * *

 ** _I apologize for the delay with this chapter. As some of you may already know, my laptop was broken. Now I had an SSD installed on it, which means that my 7 years old laptop can boot up faster than it can rename a file. It's funny to be honest._**

 ** _I'm currently working on a one-shot involving a fluffy love story, next chapter of this story will be released later and it'll be a small break to let you know what happen before the events in the mountain as well as know a little more about vampires in Elsword world (since there aren't any actual vampires in the game, I'll have to adapt most of their myth into Elsword lore)_**

 ** _As always, thank you for reading :3_**


	12. The tide turns

The sun was almost set when the group was searching around in an old and abandoned shrine. An antique structure that Rena said to have been built by the elves. What it must have been a majestic temple in honor of the water El was now a pile of old and cracked marble covered in thick vines. It was hard to imagine the layout of the temple, where the elves would say their prayers or how would they carry out their spiritual duties now. For someone as used to see marvelous temples dedicated to the water as Chung, this was really disappointing.

But not as disappointing as the fact that they couldn't find what they came for. There wasn't any magical stone laying around. Not in the shrine, not under it, not around it… it was nowhere to be found. Even Aisha couldn't sense it's magic anywhere. Considering how old the ruins where, it is not crazy to imagine that it may have been looted before by explorers or bandits. However, there was something else in this situation that was sending a bad bibe down their spines. Not only they didn't find the stone, but also they had in mind the unusually uneventful walk they had from the village to here. Ever since they arrived to the village they had to endure night after night of continuous attacks by creatures coming from this same forest, however, in their way here; they couldn't even see a single wolf. Now all they could do was look at the orange sky through the forest and regret the long walk.

"Isn't it too soon to light up the fires?," Raven said, watching several pillars of black smoke rise over the trees.

The party moved closer, looking in the same direction as the mercenary. You could see tall black columns of smoke rise over the threes in the distance. At first they thought they started lighting the fires for the night, but the way it looked and the offsetting situation made them think the worse.

"Something must've happened!"

The group didn't need any other excuse to leave the place, running as fast as they could. It was almost night, it was extrange for the creatures to attack during the day, yet something was going on in the village. The long and useless walk they had felt even heavier on their backs now.

"Let's hope that girl was able to keep them safe," Aisha said, running next to Chung.

Chung was deep in his own thoughts however. Ann said there was a magical stone in that shrine to help her sister. She mentioned that she felt its magic. But Aisha said she couldn't feel anything in the ruins. Maybe Ann was mistaken? It would be terrible to discover that their plan was flawed from the start. Anyway, there was no point thinking about that now. At least he knew she was strong enough to manage a pack of wolfs.

As they got closer to the village, they picked up a strong smell in the air. Something so horribly disgusting that they even had trouble breathing. The dense black smoke filtered through the trees, creating a dark mist that blinded them. Until they finally reached the wheat farms it was like walking on the darkest night. From there they could see it more clearly: many fires spreading from different points of the village. Red and orange danced in the streets as the faint screams of the citizens could be heard. They rushed the last few steps, ready to fight any enemy. However, even when they heard everyone crying for help, they only discovered empty streets. The only sign of fighting they had was the large pools of blood on the ground forming everywhere.

"What's going on?" Aisha asked, nervously clinging to her staff.

They ran through the village, looking for either the enemy or the villagers, but nobody seemed to be there. There was blood everywhere and yet they didn't find a single corpse. The screams they heard also felt distant, as if they were on another place, or from someone who disappeared long ago.

They saw Ann in the center of the plaza. A bloody sword on her hand, and a pile of dead villagers around her. She was covered in their blood. The El Search Party stood frozen in front of the horrifying scene. Ann finally noticed them. She slowly walked towards them, dragging the sword along. They all got ready to fight. However, Chung raised a hand to ask them to take a step back.

"Ann!" He shouted. The vampire stopped in her tracks and stared at the young boy. It was hard to see her face with her dirty hair "What's going on? Why did you attack the villagers?"

In his head, Chung found it hard to believe that all of this was a misunderstanding. However, he really wanted to hear that it actually was. Ann was standing on top of a pile of corpses, armed and covered in blood. Partly because he didn't want to admit he was fooled and partly because he couldn't believe that she destroyed the whole village.

"Oh, gathering some blood. After all, we're going to need it for… her," She said. Ann raised her sword, holding it in both her hands in a defiant pose. The party got ready to attack her.

In that moment, they felt a sudden disturbance. The sound of screams and the smell of burned flesh disappeared. Even the village seemed to become blur as they suddenly entered a blackish space where they could only see what was in front of them. The black shadow of a person with two glowing scarlet eyes, standing tall in front of them; was all they could see. The shadow moved the sword as it approached them, and while everyone tried to react to it, they found that their bodies weren't moving. An unknown force was keeping them still, defenseless against the imminent attack from the shadow.

A sudden crack followed by a explosion took them out of the trance. The sound, the smell and the village appeared again before them, as well as they saw Raven. He tried to attack Ann with his Nasod arm, but missed and created a small crater in her previous position.

"Nice trick you got there, unfortunately for you it takes more than that to scare me," Raven said, rising his arm against the vampire. Ann had jumped out of the way, leaving a trail of the blood covering her behind, the hair has moved from her face, and they could now clearly see her: smiling. She had a long smile in her face, exaggerated by the wide open eyes that stared down at them.

"They're illusions!" Chung said, finally snapping out of it "She can use them really well so be careful,"

The party readied once more. The whole team against a single enemy, they should have an easy victory, and somehow, the confident stance and the creepy smile Ann had was telling them that she was real trouble. Raven was the first one to direct the charge. Without any need for words, Elsword moved right behind him and followed the mercenary. The rest of the team stuck to their roles as Aisha immediately prepared her spells and Rena moved to an advantageous position on the ceilings. Chung, as well prepared to fight.

He was feeling so stupid right now. He had to do his best not to look around. This was mostly his fault. Even if he was about to battle this vampire, it weren't her illusions what sounded in his head. It was the last thing Eve said to him.

He put those thoughts on stand by for a moment to prepare a shot at the enemy. Raven and Elsword already reached Ann. The mercenary launched a flurry of attacks, his speed turned his sword into a blurred silver shadow. However, Ann did not backed away from it. Moved in a similar speed, she was able to block all of his attacks. Elsword moved around Raven, he swung his longsword in low arcs, aiming for her feet. While she was able to easily dodge them, the combined pressure from both swordsmen was forcing her to take a step back every time she had to get out of the way of Elsword's sword.

She seemed to be in enough trouble without adding the attacks from Rena. Shooting arrows at your enemy while your friends are fighting close seems like a bad idea, but not for Rena. As her magic arrows seemed to curve and move around just enough to miss her friends and strike the enemy. Under all this pressure, Ann decided to leap back. Covering a huge distance in one jump, she prepared her sword for another round. Before Raven and Elsword could catch up with her again, she darted from her position.

Ann moved faster than anyone could see, in the blink of an eye she reached Rena, who was far away and on top of a building. The elf was able to dodge the sword that was about to cut her throat. She slid on her knees and jump of the house, just to find Ann already down. Unable to change her path, Rena blocked her attack with the bow. It was able to hold in one piece after the strike, but she was launched against a wall. As Ann was about to corner her again, Raven finally arrived. He lunged aiming at her gut and for a moment saw his sword piercing the skin of his enemy, only to feel a sharp pain on his side. He looked behind and saw her delivering a strong kick on his back. Elsword, who was right next to him; was too surprised to react in time. As Raven was left on the ground, clutching at his aching back, Ann spinned around with her sword. The redhead was able to block it and counterattack with a thrust. He saw his sword go through her, however the skin and clothes didn't get cut. The entire figured swayed around the sword as if it were mist, and before he knew, Ann was already behind him, she didn't attacked Elsword though, as she ran off towards Chung.

He has been this whole time waiting for a chance to attack. Now that she was running in a straight line towards him, he decided to pull the trigger. Small rockets flew out of his cannon, they moved in an erratic line and landed at her feet. A explosion of blue smoke covered her surroundings. Chung had anticipated what her next move would be, he turned around and saw her magic at work. Blink and you would miss it, a small cloud of mist, suddenly condensing and forming a human shape until she suddenly materializes. Faster than even Aisha could do it, she appeared behind him ready to strike. Ann didn't seemed surprised about Chung anticipating her move, she lunged her sword at him.

Chung fired his cannon and used the recoil to clash with the sword, sending it off course. He backpedaled and reached for his pockets, throwing away a bunch of grenades that fell around her. The moment they exploded, Chung was expecting her to teleport again, however this time the attack came from between the blue smoke. Unfaced by the explosion, Ann thrusted her sword at him, too late to dodge, Chung placed his hope on his armor. He heard the sound of metal breaking: a horrible screeching and shattering combination. He looked down and was devastated to see that the clash had not only broken her sword. Pieces of his own armor had been shattered as well.

Even without her sword, there was no stopping her, she was ready to strike again. She prepared her hand in a spear shape, Chung saw her nails grow on her hand into a dangerous claw. And right before she was able to strike, he heard the sky crackling. Knowing what was about to come, he jumped back, just in time for a small burning meteor to hit the ground. Aisha has decided to release her spell just to get Chung out of there. Although he wasn't sure what of the two things that could have hit him would've been worse. Ann got out of the way as well, except this time she was much further away. Her smile was gone and she looked at them with uncertainty before finally speaking.

"Enough playing, go away and never come back or it'll cost you your lives…" She said, an immediately disappeared.

Her figure dissolved into a black mist that suddenly turned into a pack of bats. They flew over the mountain until they were out of sight.

* * *

"Vampires. You just said vampires, right?"

Raven was walking in circles around Chung, who was resting over his cannon. He already revealed all the information he ignored the first time they met. Meanwhile, Rena was tending to his injuries. Although the armor stopped Ann's sword, the blow was strong enough to make his bones hurt all around the body. The village was a mess right now. There were only a small group survivors, all of them old men and women that couldn't do anything for the ones that died. Aisha was currently helping them gather their belongings. With everyone else dead, they convinced the few survivors to move out of the village. Needless to say that their mental health wasn't doing good right now.

And it wasn't only the survivors. Chung as well was in the middle of a whirlpool of guilt and frustration. Not only has his ingenuity caused the village to be wiped out, now Eve was also in danger. To be more precise, both of them have been in danger from the start.

And the more he thought about it, the less it made sense. Chung couldn't recall when he started trusting in that vampire. Waking up in a cell after being attacked by their pet. After being separated from Eve who took some grave injuries. And being judged and put under the effect of many illusions. All of these are things that would make him hate these people, and yet he allowed himself to trust in them. To make things worse, he disregarded Eve's advice, which turned out to be right. She clearly wasn't under the influence of the vampire's, now it was obvious, and yet it was too late to realize it.

However, blaming all that happened onto the illusions and deceiving of the vampires would be too easy. It was something Chung wasn't willing to indulge himself in. He would make things up for this. First, he would resque Eve from the castle, and then; he would deal with the monsters.

Aisha finally came back. You could see a single carriage abandoning the village in the distance. With the last villagers gone, this place was now quieter than a ghost city. She checked the situation out before sitting for a moment in front of the team.

"So, we have a problem with vampires…" She started to say "I've heard about them before, they're a forgotten legend. I can't really recall all the details but… what I can remember is that they have some powerful mental abilities."

She looked at Chung that seemed to be in some kind of internal war. Aisha sighed and put her hand on his shoulder "They most likely used some kind of spell to force you to help them. Don't blame yourself about this, Chung."

As nice as they may be, Aisha's words won't help him right now.

"Alright, we'll leave that for later. We have to get going. I decided to change our mission." Elsword said "First, we take Eve back with us. Secondly, we destroy the vampires. Get ready, we're going in an hour."

* * *

Eve wandered her room in the castle. Elisa moved her from the guest room to one of the main suites. It much bigger and was properly furnished to match the rest of the castle's opulence. The glass windows and the fireplace kept the sound and chill of the blizzard away as she stared through the snow, lost in her thoughts. Moby and Remy were orbiting her head, worried about the current situation they were in.

"If you wish, I can let you go," She said, looking up to her loyal companions. Both of them negated in their binary language "I'm sorry to put you in this position, but I think it's the best we can do right now. I don't know when we'll have another chance like this one,"

The door opened, and the already familiar figure of a Vampire entered the room. It wasn't Elisa thought. Ann entered the room, still covered in the blood of her victims.

"You're here. The preparations are complete. Get changed and join Elisa in the main chamber…" she said and turned around, however she stopped to add something more "It was fun collecting all that blood, although it's a bit of a disappointment that you rejected the boy in the end…"


	13. New wings

_**It's been a long time. Some stuff hapen and well, you know the rest.**_

 _ **But the new chapter is here! Hurray. I hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

The small wooden cableway rattled along the way up the mountain. With the team on board barely managing to stay inside the transport as it swayed and shook around pulled by the mysterious energies on it's engine.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Aisha questioned. She clutched her staff as she were ready to teleport outside at any moment.

"I don't know, but it's the fastest way…" Chung said, trying to stay on place with the help of his cannon.

The machine finally peeked into the large hole below the vampire's castle. It rode the cable so fast that it didn't even stop before crashing into the small cabin that was it's station. The party crawled out of the debry coughing as a large cloud of dust rose from the remnants of the station.

"So that's the place…" Raven said, staring into the large fortress at the other side of the bridge.

"A little too big for such few people, don't you think?" Elsword said, throwing his sword on his back and starting to walk "Let's go, we have to take back our queen."

The landscape was seemingly unchanged. A quiet area around the castle surrounded by the raging storm. The magical barrier was still up, keeping the snow at bay. The tall doors at the entrance were open, and the lights were lit on every window. They glanced at the tallest tower, where the source of the storm was. Ice and snow keep flowing from the inside of the spire.

"I kind of wish I didn't come back so early…" Chung muttered while walking ahead of the rest of them. He reached for the doors and took a peek inside. The armors that attacked him when he first arrived where nowhere to be seen, however there was a significant change in the main hall.

Large pools of blood shaped as if someone had been dragging dozens of corpses through the floor covered the entire room. A horrible scene that could only be surpassed by the presence he detected on the other side of the room. The childish figure of a little girl, crouched on the ground. The blood seemed to swirl around her as she stuck her tongue out to lick the ground. She looked back to lock eyes with Chung. Black feathered wings had grown on her back, she stood up and turned around, slowly walking towards the door.

"Oh… so you came…" Ann said. Her scarlet eyes glowed more intense than ever "Even when I was so kind as to let you go…"

The rest of the team catched up, they stood there, observing the grotesque state of the main hall, but quickly prepared to face their enemy.

"Don't get so full of yourself, you just caught us off guard once," Elsword said, readying his sword. "This time, we're burning the whole place down,"

Just as Elsword said so, Aisha moved to the front, she didn't waste any time and pointed her wand at the vampire. She stored a bunch of spells right for the moment. Even if Ann would easily dodge them. The wand suddenly started breathing fire. A large fire-tongue emerged from it. Ann reacted similar to before, jumping away from it, however this time she stood in the air, with her black wings slowly moving up and down. The fire spread fast over the gaudy decoration. The carpets, blinds and other fabrics that covered the room quickly started to burn. Even when they were coated in the blood of their recent victims it wasn't enough to keep the fire away. Ann didn't stay still, she moved in the air into a diving position and darted towards Aisha. She was quick to teleport away and moved her wand again, releasing her next stored spell.

Fire crackled and swirled around her, covering the mague with blazes that spun fast around her. Her presence was enough to ignite the surroundings, spreading the fire even further.

"Don't forget about us!" Elsword yelled, arriving from behind. His sword shined with fire magic as he lunged at the vampire.

Ann moved easily between the many hazards they presented her, however it started to be apparent that the presence of fire was disturbing her.

"Attacking a Lady with sheer numbers, you should be ashamed," Ann claimed. She recovered her flying position. "Let's even the numbers a little…"

Just as she said, they felt a trembling and heard something big coming. Staring into the bridge outside the castle, they could see a white werewolf rapidly approaching the castle.

Chung and Rena were ready to intercept it, but Raven dashed right through them, so fast that they could only see a silver glint crashing with the beast. They heard a strong clang and both Raven and beast jumping back in the middle of the bridge.

"You kind is quite dangerous in an open space, allow me to dispose of you right here," Raven said, pointing his sword at the drooling beast. He was expecting the advantage of a narrow path to play in his benefit, and wasn't going to allow the werewolf to reach the castle.

"Chung!" Rena yelled, catching his attention "Remember the plan. Go get Eve. We'll handle things here."

Considering how dangerous were the enemy, dividing numbers seemed like a bad idea, however Chung was the only one who knew about the castle layout, not to mention that they may try to do something with Eve if they detect any intruders. This resque operation heavily relyed on luck but, at the same time, there wasn't any better way of doing it.

"Fine! I'll go. Remember about what I told you to kill that thing, Raven!" Chung said before running into the castle.

"As if I were going to let you," Ann said, diving into the Hamelian at full speed, only to be blocked by a flaming sword. She backed down and tried to take Elsword out of her way, but was quickly assaulted by Aisha's fireballs. She flew around again, preparing to go after the mage.

The advantage that the fire was giving them was astonishing, but not enough to make Chung not worry about leaving them. He looked back once again before entering one of the secondary doors on the hallway right in time to see Ann fail another dive into Aisha as she teleported away.

Knowing the layout of the castle was nice and good, but that wouldn't help him knowing where Eve was. It was better than wandering blindly though. It was his second time looking for her in the castle, however this time he really wanted to find her.

* * *

Eve walked slowly behind Elisa. She was wearing a white dress with a long tail that dragged behind her. It left her shoulders naked while covering her neck and legs in a frilly design. They were climbing the stairs of the main tower, slowly making their way into an odd room Eve never saw before. There was some kind of shrine at the top, with symbols she couldn't identify, while the bottom was a giant pool of shining red blood.

"So here we are. It's a shame we can do it the conventional way, but considering your nature…" Elisa was explaining when a loud bang interrupted her "... it seems that your friends are here."

"You said they would be out of this!" Eve complained.

"I told Ann that, but it seems that they came in their own. I guess they are here for you." Elisa explained, not stopping in her way to the shrine at the top of the tall room.

"I'll go talk with them."

"No. We already wasted too much time on the preparatives… Also, don't worry, I think I can do something about that… If you allow me." Ann said, reached for her forehead with her hand.

* * *

Chung was panting. He searched through so many places that he was starting to worry that they could be in another castle. He was about to resume searching when he suddenly felt a strong change in the air. He reached for his cannon immediately, but nobody was to be seen.

"Chung."

The Hamelian looked in every direction. He just heard Eve's voice now.

"Chung, what are you doing? Get out of here, and take everyone else with you…"

"What?" He looked around, still confused about the situation "What are you saying Eve? We came to get you. Where are you?"

"I don't need your help. I already told you I would deal with the vampires on my own." Eve stated.

"Don't be like that, you could use a little help right?"

"You don't understand it…" He couldn't see her, but he felt like she would be sighing by now "Chung… what happen when Ann showed you those illusions when you were in Hamel?"

Chung stopped for a moment, confused by the question. The memory came back to him. The moment he entered a room to find himself back home. He knew it was an illusion but he still indulged himself in it. He remember Eve trying to tell him off. All he did was because he trusted the vampire.

"I know I should have listened to you from the start…" Chung admitted.

"I'm not talking about that. Chung, Ann had shown illusions to me as well. They were from my homeland too. A place populated by Nasod and Debrians, all of them living in a golden city above the sky. A place that I dreamed many times about."

He stayed quiet for a moment. Chung couldn't imagine Eve feeling melancholy about anything.

"Like you, I knew that it was an illusion. And I wish I could also indulge myself in them… But, I know they are not real. Not only they are not real, they look like a cruel joke. Showing me the image of a place I'll never be able to return. I couldn't stand it. However, I don't need to return there now."

"What do you mean?" Chung said, finally moving again.

"I always wanted to return life to my people. And I was already starting to think that it could be a lost cause already. However, I discovered something that could change that."

He hurried his search, not liking where the conversation was going.

"Elisa offered me the power to recover the former glory of the Nasods. But in exchange… she wants me turning into one of them."

Chung was stopped again. The hallway he was going through suddenly turned into a dark tunnel with no doors, lights or windows. He stood there confused, not having assimilated what Eve just said. Finally, a faint glow in front of him appeared and the thin figure of the silver haired Nasod materialized before him.

"Don't worry, this is yet another illusion. Elisa is allowing me to talk with you while we perform the ritual…" Eve said. She walked in front of Chung, who was too shocked to say anything.

The silence was killing him. He wasn't sure what to do right now.

"Eve, what are you saying, we came to rescue you. Quit saying weird stuff and come with me," He said.

"I'm sorry. I can't accept that," She answered. Eve walked away from him, wandering the dark empty space they were in "To be honest Chung. I went through so much trouble to ensure you would be safe that I'm feeling a bit angry at the fact that you decided to come here."

"It was all decided from the first time I talked with that… _master_ ," Eve continued, emphasizing that last word "There's not any master here. Only these three vampires. They lied to us all the whole time. Illusions, manipulation, seduction… These creatures control such dangerous powers... "

"And even knowing that you insist in cooperating with them?" Chung asked, his patience being tested at this point. The grade of confusion he reached was overwhelming. He wasn't willing to hear her saying any more nonsense, specially now that they got up here to take her back.

"What other chance would I have?" Eve said back "I intend to use the power of the monster they are hiding in the tower to power the Altera Core. And after that… I don't really mind what happens."

The illusion began to flicker, Chung wanted to say something more, but the empty space pulled away and the hallways came back again. However there was something more. He felt some short of link with her. It was most likely part of the illusion, but Chung was able to trail off the direction it came from. Perhaps an after effect of the continued exposure to them, or maybe she was trying to let him find her. Whatever the reason, he resumed his search with renewed strength.

* * *

The bridge that connected the castle to the land was now the site of an unbelievable fight. Two shadows moving at high speed against each other. Raven with his superhuman speed and the white werewolf with it's unnatural movements. Both of them were nearly tied in terms of speed and strength. Raven moved so fast that anyone looking would only see a black shadow followed by the glint of a silver sword.

But as fast as he used his sword, the beast before him would easily block any attacks with its claws or allow the sword to burrow in it's thick skin. The resilience of the beast would be enough if it weren't for a single advantage the mercenary had on it. Every time the beast would stop to prepare for an attack, a rain of magical green arrows would fall on it, forcing it to take a step back. Not far from the mercenary, hanging from the walls of the castle was Rena. With her firing position, ready to snipe the beast any moment it would display some semblance of weakness.

Their combined attacks were a true display of skill. So many time fighting back to back has payed off. They worked so well in sync that you could see Rena's arrows flying through the different battle stances Raven was making, creating a combination of sword and arrow attacks that the werewolf wasn't able to overcome.

In a matter of time, the unstoppable beast seemed weakened enough to start thinking about running away. Being warned by Chung about how to kill it, they had been waiting for this moment all the time. The small window to kill that werewolf was when it would remove the cursed skin from itself. Which should be soon considering the amount of damage the creature was taking during the fight. Dozens of sharp arrows where driven into it's skin, and the bleeding from the thousands of cuts from Raven's blade couldn't stop bleeding.

Things weren't going that well for the other team thought. Even with fire on their side, Elsword and Aisha were struggling to take doing Ann. Her movements were a lot slower than before, and she wasn't using her teleportation magic for some reason. She kept flying with her black feathered wings and diving on them. While it wasn't a effective strategy at first, she eventually managed to make both of them tired, making dodging the dives more complicated than before.

She dove again. Heading straight for Aisha. She had been teleporting out of the way so often that she was already exhausted by now. Realizing that her magic would not working again so soon, Elsword pushed her out of the way and braced for the impact. He tried to block the vampire's claws with his sword. The sheer impact was enough to make him feel his arms crumbling under the pressure. The ground beneath him gave in and the recoil sent him flying against a wall.

Elsword fell unconscious. Ann elevated again in the air and saw her prey ever so defenseless lying on the ground. She readied another strike and dove over the kid. Just when she was a few inches away from him, a flash of light revealed the mage in front of her. Aisha had conjured her flames all around her body. Ann tried to stop herself but the momentum made her crash into the mage. Aisha was crushed beneath the vampire and Ann felt the flames quickly biting her skin. She pulled away as soon as she could. She looked at Aisha with a terrible rage in her eyes. Aisha couldn't move herself. She used up what little mana she had to create that last spell, and the hit from before created some intense pain on her back. She couldn't manage to stand on her legs, and all she could do was try to crawl and drag Elsword along with her.

"What about this?" Raven yelled, striking the werewolf beneath it's jaw. The sword pierced the monsters mouth from side to side. He pulled the sword off it and shook the blood from the blade. The wolf gave an injured howl before turning away and starting to run "Now! It's our chance to kill it!"

"Raven!" Rena shouted, garnering his attention. She pointed inside the castle.

Ann flew down, landing on top of the mage who couldn't move. The skin on her arms was still burnt. It was the only injury they managed to inflict on her. And it didn't slow her down even one bit. Ann grabbed the defenseless by the neck of her robe, lifting her off the ground. Elsword was finally recovering consciousness only to see how the vampire took off with her friend. Ann was furious. Her playful smile had twisted into a sadist grim. Her scarlet eyes had a dreadful look in them that made hard for Aisha to withstand her presence. She could see the vampire licking her lips, her two sharp fangs emerging beneath them.

"It was a pretty entertaining fight, but it's about time you all disappear," Ann said before finally driving her teeth on Aisha's neck.

The mage screamed in pain as she felt her strength banishing. The vampire's wings wrapped around her and she felt the monster embrace pressing her body as if she were some kind of bottle. Aisha squirmed and tried to free herself, but every moment she would do will only sink those fangs even more, sending an even sharper pain through her. Just as she lost her will to fight back and let her eyes close she hear a metallic whistling sound and suddenly felt like falling. Quite literally. She opened her eyes just in time to see Rena catching her before she slammed the ground. Looking up she saw Raven soaring the sky on top of a Fenix shaped arrow. Right in time to separate the vampire from her.

Ann evaded the attack just in time. Her mouth was dripping blood that she cleaned with the back of her fist just before licking it. She didn't said nothing as she flew to the center of the room. The vampire started to mumble something unintelligible. A black magical aura surrounded her as the blood that was splattered all around the room suddenly started to move and gather in her hands.

"What is she doing?" Raven asked.

"I don't know, but I don't want to be here to find it out. Grab Elsword, we're going into the castle." Rena said, running with Aisha in a bridal carry towards the nearest door.

Raven pulled Elsword who was still half conscious over his back and followed Rena. He saw through the corner of the eye how Ann had finished preparing her spell. Two bloody balls surrounded her hands. She prepared for one final dive as she quickly flew towards him. Raven was able to duck beneath her just in time to reach for the door.

They felt a huge trembling and the sound of an explosion. All of the sudden, the castle seemed to start collapsing. The strike from the vampire was hard enough to make the entire building crumble. They ran deeper into the castle, evading any debrii that would fall in their way. The trembling quickly escalated into a full earthquake as the walls and ceiling started to broke down.

* * *

"Elisa. I have some questions," Eve said. She was sitting on the edge of the shrine where the vampire was preparing everything.

"Ask away my dear," Elisa happily said while placing around different flowers and herbs, as well as lighting candles and placing different books around the altar.

"Why do you want me to turn into a vampire?" Eve said, she avoided looking at the vampire while asking. After all that time together, Eve came to realize that she was able to anticipate everything way more easier if she was able to look at her face.

"Well. You may be expecting some elaborated reason right?" She said with a giggle "Sadly, the answer is a lot more simple. I'm lonely."

"Excuse me?" Eve said, still avoiding eye contact.

"Our master had passed away. The one you saw was a mere illusion I use to keep Ann from knowing about it. My older sister is trapped by her own power and my little sister had been losing her mind. I know that is hard to believe, but…" She stopped the preparatives to sit next to Eve.

"I think I can understand…" Eve said. She wasn't going to tell her about it, if she didn't knew about it anyway. But Eve could relate to her pain in a similar way, after all, she was also a lonely creature right now. "But why me?"

"I feel like you and I aren't that different. Before I was turn into a vampire, I used to be a noble of Belder. I was the only daughter of my family, and I was the one responsible to carry on the family name. However…" Elisa started telling her story, but it was abruptly interrupted by the sound of someone slamming the door open. "It looks like your friend had found us."

Elisa went back to her preparations. Eve stood up and walked downstairs. Surely, she saw Chung standing still at the door. He seemed to be confused about her presence here. As if he was actually surprised about successfully finding her.

"Eve! Finally! Come with me. We have to help the others and flee this hellish castle." Chung said, trying his best to ignore what Eve just told him.

"Chung, why are you still here?" Eve said, walking in the middle of the rounded room "Can't you see what's going on? Do you realize that I'm the reason why all those people in the village is dead? That the fact that I'm collaborating with the vampires means that all we did till now was a waste of time. Climbing that mountain and surviving... "

"Are you trying to convince me that you made a bad thing or is you who needs to be convinced?" Chung suddenly said. Eve fell quiet for a moment "Come on Eve. It's not your fault that those people died. It was the vampires who killed them. They did it for your ritual now, but they would have done it for any other reason any other time. They are playing with you, using their illusions to manipulate you. But don't worry, I get it. It happened to me earlier."

"Why are you so stubborn about this?" Eve questioned.

"I guess that's the way that I am. You'll have to get used to it," Chung said, scratching the back of his head.

Moby and Remy entered the room. They materialized out of thin air and spun around their master. Eve took some steps back.

"If you're not leaving, then I'll make you," Eve threatened, changing into a fighting stance.

"What? Are you seriously going to fight me? And you still believe you're not under their illusions?" Chung questioned, preparing his defensive position.

"If you stay in my way here, you're standing in the way of all Nasodkin. I won't allow it. Don't worry, I won't kill you. But I won't hesitate to break you a bone or two to force you out of this place. Get ready!"

* * *

 _ **The story was going to end in this chapter, but thanks to a certain person I decided to make some changes to it. It's actually going to be a little bit longer so bear with me for a while, would you? :3**_

 _ **And no, I didn't forgot that this is a cheve fic so be patient.**_


	14. Lost

A small drop of sweat ran down his forehead. Chung stared at his current rival all the way across the room. Eve was there, hoping that he would turn around and leave without a fight. However he wasn't going to do that. After she rejected their help, Chung had decided that he would beat some sense into her head. However, he still felt uneasy about the idea of hurting her.

It didn't matter that she was acting so illogically. For him, that doesn't make it easy to hit a friend. She, in the other hand, was ready to fight. Moby and Remy circled around her, waiting for Eve's commands to strike. Chung wondered if the little drones agreed with their master, although they never questioned her before.

Without a warning, Eve leaped from her position. She was fast, once Chung was able to get visuals of her, she was already surrounded by her Nasod spears flying above him. Throwing himself out of her way, the spear tips barely missed him before slamming the ground and exploding into a electric nova. Chung rolled on the ground and recovered into his firing position. With his cannon pointing at Eve he suddenly felt unable to pull the trigger. The brief sight of her face freezed his hands in place for enough time for Eve to chase him again. She ordered both her drones to assault him, slamming themselves against his cannon. It was considerably hard to keep his stance against both of them, especially once Eve joined them wielding her plasma machine gun. The combined attack of the drones and the barrage of energy pellets broke his guard. He felt the burning projectiles grazing his skin before Moby hit his chest.

Chung rolled over his back before finally recovering his footing. Unless he fights back, he would be surely defeated. Still feeling uneasy, he reached for his grenades and scattered them on the floor. They weren't much of an obstacle for her. Recalling her drones to her side, Eve flew outside the small range of the explosives. Chung took this chance to train a shot at her. Biting his hesitance, Chung fired a burst at her general area.

As if knowing exactly where the missiles would strike, Eve gracefully threaded her flying path between them. She flew around him, calling her Nasod spear as she landed. The sharp weapon floated next to her, ready to propel itself where its wielder would want. With a subtle gesture of her hands, Eve sent the spear flying against him. Knowing the actual weight of the spear, Chung opted to evade it. She didn't gave him a chance and, as he was still on the ground, her two drones attacked him.

Chung protected himself from them as best as he could with his arms. He could see Eve standing not far from him largely unguarded. Her entire strategy for this fight was reckless. Even if it didn't look like it, having practiced so much with her had surely granted Chung some knowledge on her style. She would always try to have at least one of her drones with her ready for defense when fighting, yet she was all out on the attack right now. Something that Chung could only explain by thinking that Eve knew he wasn't willing to attack her. Despite being the truth, it was a real problem right now.

Eve was willing to harm him. Even if she wasn't going to kill him, she was trying to hurt him enough to force him to retreat. Chung should be doing the same, and yet he couldn't bare to shoot at her. If he were to keep rolling and blocking all of her attacks he would eventually lose. Not only that, but knowing that everyone else was fighting that dreadful vampire only made things worse as he was feeling a sense of urgency. He wanted to go back to check on them as much as he wanted to retrieve Eve from the castle.

Chung took a deep breath. He looked at her in the eye. There wasn't any sign of doubt or hesitance there. Only two pretty golden eyes that stared at him, as if she were silently scolding him for his own weakness. He couldn't help but smile, thinking about how many times he was in a situation like this during their training sessions. He remembers how infuriating was the strictness of her methods, as if she were waiting for any excuse to remind him how inferior he was compared to a Nasod.

But all of this would end if he didn't pull it together now. Chung casted aside all of it, and concentrated on the battle in front of him. It was one of his first lessons about how important is to think right in a fight. If she was going to force him to retreat, he would do the same in order to get her out of here. With renewed strength, Chung lifted his cannon.

Suddenly, he felt something pulling from it, he looked behind him just to meet the back of Elisa's hand. The slap pushed him back enough to allow the vampire to elbow him on the side with a surprising monstrous strength. Chung was sent flying against the wall, his consciousness wavering as he saw Eve's face before finally blanking out. Surprisingly enough, she seemed to be scared.

* * *

The whole castle trembled. Dust and pebbles fell from the ceiling with each tremor. The decorations jumped out of their tables to meet the ground and the injured team walked down the hallways looking for a safe room.

"That vampire is going to destroy this whole place if she doesn't calm down…" Raven said, he pushed aside the door to a nearby room and after checking it was empty, he gestured for the others to enter.

"You really made her angry," Rena murmured, slowly leaving Aisha on the ground.

The mage went totally pale. Her chest moved ever so slowly as she hardly was able to breath. Her eyes remained shut from the moment they peeled her from the vampire's embrace and the skin under them and on her cheeks had a dark blue tone.

"Shouldn't we feed her an elixir?" Elsword questioned, making his way to her. His injuries weren't as bad as they looked, or maybe he was just enduring them. After all, in that situation he could only care for his friend.

Rena shook her head, she stuck her head against Aisha's chest to check on her pulse and breathing "She exhausted her mana pool, and that bite took quite a bit of her blood as well, she's too weak right now. All of her remaining energies must focus on keep breathing, trying to accelerate the healing with an elixir could be fatal."

All three of them looked at the mage with worry on their eyes. The castle kept rumbling under the continued pounding of the injured vampire.

"We have to take care of her, she'll bury us alive if this continues." Raven said, opening the door and peeking outside.

"Do you think we even stand a chance? We have to take care of Aisha, we can't leave her alone here!" Elsword protested.

"Stay with her," Raven said "Rena and I will take care of things. Don't worry Elsword. She's strong, but that's all she has. She's not a fighter, I can see that by the way she fights, she compensates her lack of skill and experience with pure strength and superhuman capabilities."

"I think that's a good enough compensation…" Elsword added.

All he got as an answer was a bitter smirk from Raven as he left the room, soon followed by Rena who turn around to give him a brief bow as a way of apologizing. Elsword was left alone with Aisha. He can't fight with them, and he can't do anything for Aisha as well. The frustration he was feeling made him so uneasy that he could barely keep himself from rejoining battle.

* * *

"You shouldn't have done that. I could have handled him easily," Eve protested. Elisa was checking Chung's body and, after confirming he was alive, called for their pet. The white werewolf appeared. Without the need of any order, the beast carried Chung's body out of the room.

"Eve, my dear; I'm going to some really far extents in order to grant your wish of leaving your friends be. You'll have to allow me at least this much intervention from my side. If you're not happy with this, may I remind you that all of this could have been avoided if you took his blood from the start?" Elisa explained, as she made her way to the stairs.

The castle shook violently, the sound of stone walls cracking could be heard everywhere inside. Elisa held to the railing as she cursed her sister in a low murmur.

"Ann, you're going to tear the castle down, wait for us to be ready at least…" Elisa said. She waited for her sister to send a reply, but she couldn't sense anything "Strange… Ann isn't responding to me."

"We don't need her anyway," Eve stated, passing Elisa and entering the superior chamber in the tower. Everything was ready. The eerie shrine had been laden with flowers and other unknown ingredients that emitted a pulsing, bluish glow. Small rivers of blood poured from the walls, forming a nice drawing on the floor and congregating on a floating sphere in the center "Let's get this over with…"

"Right. Lay down on top of the shrine and I'll commence the… ritual." Elisa said, walking next to the stone altar.

"I feel like you're just exaggerating, all you're going to do is bite me... " Eve said, slowly laying down on the cold stone. She looked at the vampire without moving her head, with a mixture of uncertainty and impatience on her face.

"Oh, don't be like that. I don't get to do this so often you know. Furthermore, this ritual will make things easier, and ensure that your awakening is as powerful as it should be," Elisa said.

"So, how does this ritual works exactly?" Eve questioned. She really wanted to know the full details of it, but Elisa insisted in keeping it all a secret before.

"It's easy, really. It's a bonding ritual. First I'll take your blood with a special kind of bite."

"Do vampires have different kinds of bites?" Eve questioned.

Elisa coughed to dismiss the interruption and continued "You're going to feel very dizzy and tired after that but don't worry, it won't last long. Then, before it goes away, I'll allow you to drink my own blood, which carries the vampire stigma. Since you don't have fangs, I'll have to cut myself."

"Do I really need to drink your blood?" Eve said.

"That's not even half of it. You'll do it as a reflex, don't doubt about it, however, your transformation won't be completed until you take human blood. Originally, you were going to take that boy's blood, but since you were so persistent about letting him go, you'll have to use the blood that Ann gathered in the village."

Moby and Remy moved in front of her, staring at her with their unchanging little faces. Even with the lack of facial muscles, Eve could feel that they were worried and still decided to put up with it. All that happened, the lives of the villagers and the fight with her friends; it was her fault. She didn't wish for it, yet it came to happen. All she could do, was convince herself that this was all a worthy sacrifice for the good of her people.

Elisa didn't wait any more before climbing on top of the altar. For a brief moment, Eve saw Elisa's usual calm and kind face turn into a menacing monster, as sharp fangs started growing between her lips and her eyes shined in dark red. She moved closer to her neck. Eve could feel the warm breath tickling her skin. She was starting to hesitate, but she did all she could to keep her doubts in place, and waited for the bite.

She was expecting a bitter sensation, a horrible pain in the neck followed by the burning sensation of bleeding, but instead she felt something more similar to a kiss. A soft and warm caress on her skin. She unconsciously closed her eyes. Instead of the couple of fangs draining her blood, all she could feel was the teasing of the vampire's fleshy lips. As her eyes remained shut, Eve started to see things. She wasn't sure what they were, but she had an unusual familiar feeling towards them. There was a kid playing with her friends. A rich family and… things Eve couldn't understand. She thought those may be Elisa's memories. Suddenly, her own memories flooded in, overwriting the previous visions.

Eve saw memories she herself thought were already forgotten and deleted from her hard drive. She saw herself floating in a capsule, an old debrian in front of her programming her mind on a virtual keyboard. The image jumped to a different one, this time awakening in Altera only to find out her species had been wiped out. More memories flew in and out, she felt like she was going adrift in a river of memories, until one popped up in front of everything else.

It was her, in front of Chung. They were on the training grounds. That day Chung had been trying so hard to successfully pull his strategy that Eve couldn't help but feel moved by his efforts. She remembered that at that moment she felt something similar to having your pet puppy finally learn the handshake trick. Eve felt a bit bad about it. Come to think of it, she would always compare Chung to a lower creature, as if her work with him was more akin to pet training.

He got played like a violin, only to be casted away so easily. Eve tried to warn him, but it was futile. Maybe if she had told him everything from the beginning he would have understood the situation better. Or at least she could have more time to convince them for not going after her.

Her memories suddenly disappeared as something stronger muted them. It was a smell. A rusty metallic smell. Just from it Eve could imagine what it was. In her mind she could see red drops falling somewhere. She finally opened her eyes to see Elisa's wrist hanging over her. There was a cut on them and blood was pouring out at a steady rate. Eve never felt like that before. All she could do was stare at the delicious red fluid hanging just inches away from her, waiting to be drunk. Elisa waited patiently, moving her wounded hand in front of the hungry Nasod. Slowly but decided, Eve stuck her tongue out to lick the blood.

The taste was strange. It didn't taste like food. It was like sucking on something metallic, but even that was muffled by something else. Eve felt memories flowing in her mind again. This time they weren't hers, they were from Elisa.

Eve was standing on a scene, it played as a movie in front of her. A little child was playing in her room, all of the sudden the sound of fight and gunfire was heard outside. The little girl ran to the closet and hid there. The noise became louder. Someone had entered the house. The scene became black as the kid shut her eyes in the closet. Eve could only see a black void, hearing the steps of a group of unknown people as they rummaged through the room until they finally open the closet.

The girl was taken with them, carried away from the small village she lived in and into a dark castle.

The scene changed, Eve recognized it, it was the same room she was in now. The little girl had grown quite a bit, she was resting on top of the altar, with blood all over her. She wasn't moving, not even breathing, until someone entered the room. Eve recognized one of them, it was the master she spoke of when they first arrived at the castle. The master threw in a chained man. He looked at the vampire with terrified eyes and then at Elisa, who just woke up. The man tried to flee from the room, but all he could do was stumble on his chains and fell to the master's feet. He begged for his life for a brief instant before Elisa threw herself over him, quickly tearing off his neck with her fangs in a brutal fashion that made Eve turn her eyes away.

Again, the memory shifted. This time Elisa was outside the castle. The whole place was burning. The vampire walked slowly avoiding the flames, she seemed to be dragging a couple of bodies with her. It was hard to see with the smoke, but Eve finally identified Ann and Sarah. The girl was murmuring something as she abandoned the castle with her sisters.

The visions disappeared as Eve felt the wrist she was sucking from being pulled away.

"Sorry, it was starting to hurt, don't worry. There's your feast," Elisa said, covering her wrist in a bandage and pointing to the floating orb of blood in the room. "I know what you saw in there, sharing memories and deep thoughts is a common phenomena when you drain someone else's blood. With time you get used to it and eventually you'll be able to navigate other people's thoughts with a few drops of their blood."

"So that's what happened to your master… You weren't happy with him." Eve said, still confused. She slowly got up, her body was feeling strange. She felt a surge of power coarsing through her body, but was unable to focus it to the point that even walking was proving to be hard.

However, before she could even reach it, a tremendous earthquake shook the ground. Eve couldn't hang onto something on her state and was caught by Elisa before she could hit the ground. However, the orb of blood seemed to collapse under the sudden impact and was splattered all over the ground.

"Ann! Stop it right now!" Elisa yelled. However her words didn't reach her sister as the castle continued to tremble "Crap… I mean… what a misfortunate incident. Eve, I'm afraid we have to leave this place before completing your ritual. Don't worry, there's no need to rush your first proper feeding. This actually may be good after all. Now, follow me."

They kept climbing the tower. Eve was starting to recover her senses and held onto Elisa as much as she could. Her two drones tried to support her as well, making the painfully long ascent a bit easier on her.

* * *

Aisha fought to keep her eyes open. She wasn't still fully conscious, and even less she was able to stand. However he had been doing her best to try and stay awake, since closing her eyes would bring her a disturbing image. Every time she would blink or shut her eyes she would only see one thing: Ann.

The vampire's image showed up in her mind every few seconds, enough to start bothering her. And what bothered her was the strange reaction she was having at her. Aisha would see Ann in her visions in a strange way. There wasn't any blood on her, nor her eyes were shining bright red. She was peacefully moving around her. Slowly, gracefully and deliciously. Ann would leap around Aisha in her short visions as if she were dancing. She could even feel her voice, caressing her ears, as if she were calling for her. It was a quiet whisper and yet it could be heard louder than any other sound.

She started to move, startling Elsword who was watching over the door with his sword at the ready.

"Aisha! You're awake?" He asked, rushing next to his friend "Don't move, you need to keep your energies…"

Elsword did say that, but she didn't seem to listen. Aisha clumsily stood up in front of Elsword who did his best to convince her to stay down. She hobbled towards the door and it was then that Elsword decided to stop her by grabbing her arm. He wasn't expecting it, specially in the state she was, but Aisha pulled away so strongly that Elsword lost his balance and face planted in front of her. He looked up, surprised at her surge of strength in time to see his friend destroying the door with a fireball.

"Aisha! You can't go out in your state. Rena said that if you don't rest you'll die!" Elsword said, but he was pushed away by a strong wind spell "What are you doing?!"

She started walking back to the main hall. You could hear someone fighting in there. Rena and Raven were facing the dreadful vampire. Ann had removed her wings, and was back on foot, where her inhuman speed was far greater. However, there was something different on Rena and Raven as well.

Ann didn't change anything on her attacks, she would use her superior strength and speed to overmatch any chances they could have, however Raven was managing to react in time to avoid being knocked down, while Rena's agility was enough to keep her out of her claws. There was something lacking in their fight, and that was teamwork. It would seem that they had bad coordination, but in fact, they were working in sync. Without Elsword and Aisha in between, Raven and Rena were able to use their long practiced fighting style. It took them a while to figure it out, but Ann was far more powerful when facing groups of enemies, and that strength came out of the fear she instigated. Raven realized that from their first fight with her, she would always attack the weakest one of them to force anybody else to drop their guard. However, that strategy had a fatal mistake, if the people you fight is capable of defend for themselves, it will lose all of its advantages.

"I'll end this quick!" Raven shouted, grabbing the attention from the vampire. He lunged with his sword at max speed. Ann blocked his attack with her own sword and retaliated with a flurry of her own. While Raven was able to deflect or evade all of her attacks, the vampire was looking for her other enemy. Rena was nowhere to be seen, something that started to upset the vampire.

"Where are you looking?" Raven said, pointing his Nasod arm at her and shooting a fireball out of it. The vampire crouched beneath it and darted from her position to the walls, she leaped back at Raven, clashing against his sword with enough power to take it out of his hands. She looked around, hoping to see the elf coming out of hiding to help him out, but still no signs of her.

Annoyed, she continued to fight Raven, who was doing a decent job defending himself with his mechanical arm alone. Once he had a small window, Raven threw a punch to her face that was stopped few inches away from her nose. At that moment, Ann felt a sudden jolt on her senses, and turned around right in time to see three arrows coming at her. She didn't bothered to evade them, instead she glanced over the pile of rubble from where the elf have finally appeared. Taking three arrows to her back as if they were mosquito bites, Ann teleported right away, appearing next to Rena. She was surprised though, as the elf have already rolled out of her reach and prepared the bow again. Two more arrows were lodged in her chest. Blood came out, but the vampire pushed forward as if they were nothing. Another teleport and she missed again.

With her body impaled in arrows, Ann wondered how they were able to counter her teleport now. She felt her patience being pushed to new limits. Her wish to crush these two insects under her foot grew as she realized that it was Raven the one missing now.

Countering such a fast ability would be impossible if it weren't because Ann had been using it in such a predictable way. While it was impressive at first, now that they found out her weakness it become easy to handle. While Ann was superior on the physical aspect, both Raven and Rena had far more experience and skill than her. Her way of using her abilities were like a kid, repeating the same trick they learned every time.

The elf prepared a new wave of shots at the same time that Ann felt the presence of Raven coming from behind. She was pinned between the two of them.

"So you believe that ignoring each other is going to work… Then I'll just have to kill you one by one," Ann said. She put her hands on the arrows that impaled her chest and blood started to pour out of the injuries. It shaped in her hands into a longsword. She looked at Rena who was tensing her bow and immediately rushed towards her. She was waiting for the vampire to attack, and when she swung her bloody swords at her, Rena drew an ice formed arrow and shot the ground. Leaving the vampire legs frozen in place. At that moment Raven came out of nowhere at the speed of light and struck the vampire.

Though Rena could see the sword going through the vampire's chest, she also saw Ann turning around and punching Raven in the gut. The hit was so strong that sparks of energy came out as Raven was sent flying towards the ceiling. Before he was on the ground, Ann turned around and threw her swords at Rena. Despite being stunned by what just happen, Rena was able to easily dodge them. However, she felt something tugging from her hair. Ann was able to grab her even while dodging and with a strong pull she sent the elf flying, crashing with Raven.

"As long as I have these powers…" Ann said, holding a hand against her bleeding chest. Raven's sword slid out of it and a lance began to form out of the blood she was loosing "I cannot be defeated…"

The vampire leapt high in the air and pointed her blood spear at the downed pair. As she came down, Raven was able to push Rena out of the way right in time before the spear landed on his Nasod arm. The hardened blood cut through the iron plates as if they were butter reaching the fragile gears and mechanisms inside. Raven could feel something cracking and moving out of place as his arm quickly started to lose sensibility and hung lifelessly at his side.

"Raven!" Rena said, almost running towards him.

"Stop!" He yelled. Raven still managed to get back on his feet. With an arm missing and overall in bad condition, he seemed to have something in mind "Don't break our formation, this monster can't go on like that forever…"

He was right. Ann was breathing heavily and her stance seemed to have lowered. Using her own blood as a weapon may have been too much for her body. But the two of them weren't in good shape either. If the fight was to turn into an attrition war, they would have the worst part.

"Well… you're right…" Ann said with a horrible smile "But it's not like we're going to stay here until we find out. Right? Aisha?"

Ann looked behind her. Aisha had reached the main hall while nobody was paying attention. She held her staff high as a red aura enveloped her.

"Aisha! What are you doing?" Rena shouted, startled after seeing her badly injured friend pushing herself.

"Don't bother… Let me tell you, stupid elf," Ann said, moving next to the mage who seemed to not mind it at all "Human blood carries so many things with it, once you have a taste, it's so easy to do many wonderful things with their owner."

Ann placed both her hands at the sides of Aisha's head "She was so weakly clinging to life that taking control of her was child's play. Now, Aisha; if you would, why don't you crush your friends?"

Aisha finished her spell. You could hear the sky rumbling. A flash of light outside accompanied by the sound of an explosion confirmed Rena's fears. A meteorite came crashing through the roof and blew in the main hall, creating a cloud of fire and smoke.

"Don't be mad," Ann said while retreating, Aisha was following her "If It weren't by the power I just gave her, she would have already died of exhaustion."

Meteorites continued to fall, destroying the walls and pillars that keep the castle from crumbing into the void beneath it.

"Forget about Aisha, we have to find Elsword and get out of here!" Raven ordered.

"But Chung and Eve-" Rena started to say.

"Forget it! This place is going to collapse!"


	15. Finale (1)

The castle shook violently. Large fragments from the walls and the ceiling started to crack. The meteorites damaged the pillars, causing the whole structure to start crumbling. Eve walked behind Elisa with haste. They were going up the main tower, to where Sarah was enclosed. There wasn't time for explanations, they climbed the stairs in a sepulchral silence. The only thing in their heads was to get out of there as soon as possible, however Eve wasn't sure how they were going to achieve it. Were they going to pick up Sarah and leave somehow?

"Eve, do you have a clear memory of a safe place?" Elisa asked, seconds before they arrived in front of the permafrost door that lead into Sarah's chamber. Eve didn't answer, she was distracted by the fact that the ice had melt, but more importantly, by the two individuals waiting there: Ann and Aisha.

She silently rushed to her friend. Checking on her state, Aisha returned her an empty gaze. Eve noticed the two distinctive bite marks on her neck and furiously looked at Ann, who didn't give any explanation and tried to play dumb. Elisa placed a hand on Eve's shoulder and took a look at the mage.

"Don't worry Eve, she's only under a temporary spell, and I think it's going to be pretty convenient for us, after all,"

Elisa left them and head for the door. At a gesture from her hand, the sound of unlocking mechanisms was heard, and the door began to open. A wind of frost air came out of the chamber, followed by the gelid white mist. They followed the older sister inside the room. Eve scanned the place, trying to see the ice vampire. The room had drastically changed from the last time she was here.

There wasn't any ice now in the room, to the exception of a large fragment on top of the bed. The white mist covered only a small portion of the ground, and the room layout and furniture was visible now. Even the wind generating vortex was gone. Now it looked like any other room in the castle, with the exception of the large ice fragment on the bed. After inspecting it from up close, Eve realized there was someone inside it.

"Sarah is in stasis right now, she can encase herself in ice to prevent her magic from shipping out of her body." Elisa elaborated, ordering her little sister to take her. Ann sunk her claws on the ice nonchalantly and lifted it over her shoulder. Her strength was as impressive as ever. She started to walk again, heading to another set of stairs on the other end of the room.

Eve followed the vampires upstairs. From time to time she glanced at Aisha, who seemed totally out of herself, walking with empty eyes wherever Ann would go. Moby and Remy also flew around her, trying to get some kind of reaction, but nothing came from her.

The side stairs lead into a superior level that Eve never noticed on her previous explorations. It was an attic full of dust and spider webs, totally dark without any windows or light sources. Only a single artifact rested in there. A huge egg shaped purple jewel on top of a claw like pedestal. It took Eve a moment to realize what it was. The color and the shape were identical to those same artifacts the demon army used to open portals into their dark realm. She remembers seeing those appearing all around Feita on their many quests in there. Elisa noticed her bewildered thoughts and started to explain.

"I'm sure you know what this is. A gate of darkness, it's an artifact the demons use to travel from their dimension to ours. This one has been modified though. We used it to bring ourselves along with the castle here. It's almost depleted of energy now, but it should be able to take all of us to a safe place,"

A powerful trembling shook the tower, prompting Elisa to hurry the preparatives. She raised her hand and a dark energy started crawling out of her skin and entering the pedestal. It started to glow faintly, with the egg jewel displaying a purple shine on the inside.

"Visualize the safe place inside your mind as clear as you can, and once you're ready, touch the jewel, we will be teleported," Elisa explained.

Eve knew the perfect place. Not only it was safe, it was a nice opportunity to bring her closer to her objective. In her mind appeared Altera. A wide room with metallic walls, illuminated by light bulbs and full of complex machines and control panels. It was one of many, but the one she was more used to. Before she finally placed her hands on the jewel, she thought about Chung. If he was still unconscious he would be trapped beneath the rubble. Her hand finally touched the cold jewel, a blinding light shone from the artifact, Eve felt a strong wind lifting her in the air, the space around her began warping and disappearing. She felt like being suck into a huge whirlpool of energy and, as fast as it came; everything stopped. She looked around, all the lights were off, and the control panels had run out of energy years ago, but they were there, in Altera.

* * *

Chung finally regained consciousness. He stirred and started to get up in a state of confusion before his mind reminded him of what was going on. And at the same time, a sharp pain in his chest that brought him to his knee. Every time he would breath, Chung would feel a strong pain on his chest, meaning most likely that he had a broken rib. Or perhaps more than one, as walking was a torture as well. He supported himself against the wall. Closing his eyes, he skimmed through the events.

Eve had escaped with the vampire. He didn't know about his friends state. The castle was awfully quiet. Chung looked around and noticed many cracks and broken slabs all around the room. It was like an earthquake just took place. Wondering if it would be alright, he started to think about his next step. He wanted to go after Eve. He didn't knew were she was, but if he starts searching now he may be able to find her. Chung took a deep breath.

He slapped himself in the face with boths hands to try and refresh himself. That wasn't going to work. It hurted him to admit that he wouldn't't be able to go after Eve right now. There was something more important to do, and that was to get treated. Chung didn't had a chance against her and the vampire in his current state. Not like he had it before either. He needs to heal and to get with his friends and see how they are. He looked at the stairs on the other side of the room. He felt like Eve would be waiting on top of them, but still had to turn around.

Chung wasn't willing to label Eve as a traitor. He was walking through the corridors with one shoulder on the wall. Trying his best not to fall and make his injuries worse. However, Eve's actions weren't particularly good right now. She did tried to not get them involved, but still... It didn't matter how many times Chung would question her doing, the only reasonable explanation was that she was under the vampires influence right like he was. Or at least that was the only explanation he was willing to accept.

He finally reached the door to the main hall. Chung couldn't hear fighting on the other side. Maybe they were done with the vampire? Or they went into other area to fight. He just wished they weren't in danger when he pushed the door open. Just as he was entering the large hall, a strong tremble shook the entire castle. He looked around, hand on his side to try to contain the pain. There was nobody on the main hall, the doors to the exterior were open and… the storm was gone.

Chung couldn't believe it. And he didn't have time to think about it either, as the castle started trembling again.

"Chung!" Rena was heard. The young boy scanned his surroundings when he finally spotted the elf, running towards him from the entrance bridge.

The didn't ask any question before pulling from his arm. Even after he complained from the pain, the elf threw his arm over her shoulder and started running towards the gate. The castle shook again, this time not only dust but a large fragment from the ceiling broke and fell right where they were standing seconds ago. They kept running even after they reached the bridge, crossing it in no time. Chung could see both Raven and Elsword on the other side, waiting for them. They seemed to be fairly tired.

There was a moment on calm on the castle. The noise from the cracking and trembling ceased. It looked like the whole place was about to calm down. All of the sudden, the central tower broke, falling over the main hall of the castle. A huge smoke cloud bursted in every direction as they heard countless stone falling into the deep chasm beneath the castle. Even the bridge fell down after the whole structure. When the cloud finally started dissipating, all that was left of the castle was rubble in the bottom of the abyss.

Everyone stared at it horrified, thinking about Eve and Aisha who were still inside. All, except Chung. His eyes searched the debri. He knew that that wasn't enough to stop Eve. Not in her current state. And the vampires as well. He couldn't find her. He could easily think it was a tragedy. To punch the ground in sadness as he stared at the destroyed castle. But he was able to keep his cool.

"Eve is not there," He said, looking at his horrified friends "She wouldn't die just like that,"

His words didn't seem to be able to convince his friends.

"Aisha was in there too," Elsword said.

Chung looked at the ruins again. Eve wouldn't die, but Aisha? She did have her teleportation magic but...why was she still inside as well?

"Aisha is under control of the vampire we fought," Raven explained, reading Chung's expression.

* * *

Everything was black and cold. Aisha was floating in a dark space. Nobody was there. She was in an awfully tired state. She tried calling for her friends, but her voice didn't seem to reach anywhere in this place. Her body ached on every place. Specially her neck. She touched it, the place where Ann had bite her before. She felt a pang of pain go through her body once the tips of her fingers touched the two small marks on her skin.

"It will heal soon, don't worry."

The voice came out of nowhere. Aisha looked around, nobody was to be seen. She wondered if she was starting to lose her head. He did remember falling asleep.

"You don't have to worry about anything, just stay with me,"

The voice talked again. Aisha felt like it was a familiar voice, someone she already knew, yet she wasn't able to name it. She wanted to met them, but again, she saw nobody around her.

"I know this looks scary, but I promise I'll keep you safe if you stay with me. Safe, warm and happy."

Those words sounded a bit too kind for someone that didn't even showed their face. As Aisha was struggling to explain to herself what was going on, she felt something behind her. A warm sensation. Welcomed in this infinite cold space. It was like someone's presence, she felt two arms wrapping around her body in a nice and tender hug. The warm of this unknown body started to push the cold away, allowing Aisha to breath relieved.

"You're tired, right? Just rest. Close your eyes, I'll be here when you wake up."

Ignoring the voice felt impossible, inappropriate even. Aisha silently obeyed. She curled herself in the empty space, finding a nice position in those arms around her. She slowly closed her eyes and let the dreams to take her again.

"That's right. Just rest… We'll be needing you soon," Ann said while she gently caressed the young mage's purple hair. Aisha was resting on her lap, her eyes open in a lost and emotionless gaze.

"Ann. Make sure Aisha is alright." Elisa said. They just arrived at Altera, and making this place their new temporary shelter was taking more than expected. All because Eve refused to help preparing everything because she went straight into the deeper levels of the island, taking the frozen Sarah with her.

* * *

"Phoenix strike!"

A huge arrow shaped as a blazing phoenix cut through the thick layer of snow, melting it in a second and turning it into sizzling water right away. The team was descending the mountain. With the storm gone, the sun finally shone again over the long frozen hills. Chung was amazed at the fact that this mountain, that it would take them no more than an hour to descend, took two days to be climbed, and it nearly cost him his life.

"Guys, I hate to be the one saying this… but we have to rest before we go after them,"

Everyone stopped for a moment to look at Chung. He returned the looks with an apologetic expression. Before he could say anything more, Elsword spoke, but what he said was something Chung had never expected.

"It's pretty rare of you saying something like that, you're always the first one to jump into danger if it means helping someone."

Raven and Rena didn't said anything, they just exchanged confident smiles and patted Chung on the back.

They had a sense of urgency, but in their current state they were little more than useless. Not to mention they didn't knew where Eve would be, or if they would be alright. Sooner than expected, they reached the village. They walked through the deserted streets. It was sad, the storm was finally gone and there wasn't a single villager left to see it. They couldn't save them.

"To think that these vampires killed everyone…" Rena started to say "I can't blame Eve for it but…"

Raven placed a hand on her shoulder, keeping her from saying anything more. The team accepted that Eve was under the control of the vampires, or at least that she was being deceived, and didn't allow themselves to think otherwise. What happened to the villagers was unforgivable, but it was something the vampires did on their own. They couldn't imagine Eve agreeing to such horrible slaughter. Even when that thought was in the back of their heads.

They entered the town hall. The inside was fine, it seems that when Ann attacked everyone went outside. It wasn't their camp, but it was a roof and a place to heal their injuries. Raven still insisted in mounting ward, even with the vampires gone, the werewolf was still out there. Certainly, they didn't even had a second to relax.

"I think I have an idea about where they went," Chung said. Rena was tending to his wounds, applying a healing balsamic made with flowers that did a nice job on soothing the pain on his ribs. Raven was lying down with his arm over his face, trying his best to catch some sleep and Elsword was at the door, alert at any movement. Out of all the three of them, Rena was the only one in good state. Raven had over work himself far way more than he should. His Nasod arm was severely damaged during the fight. He couldn't even move its fingers. He felt an annoying itching around his shoulder. Eve taught him about these, but all that Raven could remember now was that they were how the arm communicate it's problems. Elsword was physically well, however, in the inside; he wasn't doing good. He blame himself for what happened with Aisha. He remembers being frustrated about having to take care of her in the first place, and he couldn't even do it right.

They waited until the next day, resting as much as they were able. Sleeping probed to be hard, as it was almost impossible due to the thought of their friends being taken away by the vampires. That, and other creeping feelings regarding Eve and her decisions. They would have preferred to do something else to distract themselves. When morning finally came, they met around the dining table to eat and plan their next move.

"I think I know where they are."

Chung was the first one to speak. He spent the whole night thinking about this. Knowing that his previous plans didn't had the exact result he wanted, Chung was hesitant about presenting it to his friends. Luckily for him, nobody seemed to question him, as they were expectantly waiting his words.

"Eve wanted to use to power of that ice vampire to replace the El energy for her race resurrection. I believe they are in Altera. We already saw their magic, I'm sure moving there would be child's play for these monsters,"

"Why there? If we are to assume that Eve is under their control, they could have went anywhere else,"

Raven was right. However, Chung had something more in mind.

"I think that if the vampires accepted helping her, they may want something either from Eve or from the Nasods themselves," Chung paused, he should address the problem that was lingering in the air since the beginning "Listen, I know that we have been played all the time along until now, and that my plans only made things worse, but once again I need to ask you for your help."

"What are you saying? You idiot," Elsword finally spoke. Everyone felt a little surprised, not only for his words, but more for his attitude. He seemed to be back on his carefree adventurous self "Of course we are going to help you. And yeah, you screwed up, and we saved your butt. Isn't that why we are a team? To protect each other's asses? Also, it's not you who screwed up."

Chung lifted his eyebrows. Elsword wasn't the most eloquent leader however he wasn't one bit troubled to express himself whenever it was necessary.

"I'm my opinion this is all Eve's fault. We are going to take her back her and have a long chat with her after this. She deserves some scolding for allowing these vampires to deceive her so easily. After all her rambling about being the smartest and strongest one…"

Surely, Elsword was as worried about her as anyone else, maybe that's why he was so eager to tell her off. His speech wasn't exactly motivational, but at least it lifted the grim mood that took over them. Hope was something important right now, and they grabbed onto it and prepared to leave. It was a long way to Altera, and they didn't want to waste any more time.

The streets were still soaked in blood, bodies were everywhere. It was a horrible scene. But they don't have time for funerals. They would tell someone in the village to get the city ward do the job and that would be the last thing they would ever heard of this village. Taking all the supplies they could with them, they started walking through the forest. Their walk through the forest was calm. With the vampires gone, the animals around the forest seemed to have calmed down. Or at least most of them. There was still a creature out there, trying to be subtle but not succeeding. The white werewolf stalked the group from a distance, unknowing of their awareness.

"Before we leave the forest, there's a final thing we have to do."

* * *

Elisa walked through the countless Nasod that rested on the installations. It has been hours since Eve went into the deeper levels carrying Sarah with her. Ann accompanied Eve to help in handling her sister, and to make sure she was fine. The room where she was was incredibly huge. Due to the lack of lights, Elisa couldn't see the ceiling. The walls extended in a long rectangular shape with many maintenance accesses all around its height. The entire space was filled with the bodies of Nasods. Being machines, most of them were still standing on their feet, left unperturbed by the pass of time. Most of them seemed to have been interrupted during their job. She walked next to one. It looked like some kind of mining Nasod unit. One of its arms was replaced by a large drill and it was covered in several layers of protecting steel and also had a small flashlight attached to its head. Elisa swept the thick layer of dust from its face to see two golden globes staring back at her. Although these two did not shine like Eve's do.

This was her first time being alone since Eve and company arrived at the village. Elisa felt like it has been ages since she had time to calmly stroll around. She just wished this place weren't as complicated. At least there was nobody here, and she had time to arrange her thoughts.

She chose Eve the moment she saw her. Ann wasn't happy with it, but the little sister decided to not intervene. If Elisa had to explain the reasons she would have a hard time. She just felt like Eve was the right one. Ann would have preferred the other one, Aisha. Although it wasn't a good idea to trust her, after all Ann usually makes her decisions based on her personal preferences rather than actual thought. She did got herself the other girl, and Elisa was fine with it as soon as she doesn't do her any harm, but even then Elisa wasn't going to turn Aisha into a vampire.

When she sent the werewolf to separate Eve from Chung and bring her to the castle, Ann questioned her reasons once and again. Elisa had a hard time explaining it, she was also a bit embarrassed to explain some parts. But she believes she was able to convey at least a little bit of her reasons.

Eve was like a sister soul. Elisa was able to tell Eve was like her even before she had any of her blood. It was reflected on her face, on her way of speaking and her behaviour. Her experience, her preferences… Everything in Eve resembled Elisa of herself. She was amazed when she discovered about Eve's past after drinking her blood.

Elisa was against becoming a vampire. She wanted to have a happy life with her friends. But that didn't stop the vampire that turned her. He was a heartless monster. Her memory of that time was so blurry that she can barely remember what happened. However, instead of regretting her past, Elisa did all she could to move forward. Getting rid of her master and taking her two _sisters_ with her. She went through hell, her master didn't show her nothing about vampires. Discovering how her new _life_ works was a pain, in more than one sense.

It took her a lot of time to recover her self-confidence. However, she started to realize something. She couldn't help but feel like something from her life was missing. It was a feeling of longing, of regret. Something that she bowed to not have. It took her long, but she finally realized what it was. She was alone.

Ann is really different from her, although she's with Elisa, she still can't quite fill the emptiness Elisa feels. Sarah however was much more afine to her, but unfortunately her powers drove her away from everyone. Elisa could feel the loneliness slowly clawing at her heart everyday. That was when she decided to look for someone to be with her. Just to take the loneliness away, Elisa began roaming the land, in the search for a suitable person.

She was amazed when Eve finally arrived at the castle. After having tried so many different people, Elisa was really surprised when those first drops of blood that she drank from the unconscious Eve tasted so… familiar. Blood has a special taste that only vampires can sense. It's the taste of the life that person had. Their experiences, memories, thoughts, everything is transferred into the blood, and vampires can easily peek at all of that with a sip.

It tasted sour. Not like someone who had a bad life, but rather like someone who carried a lot of pain on their shoulders. From the very first, Elisa felt like Eve was what she had been looking for all this time. However, she wanted to do things differently from her master. If she were to force Eve to turn into a vampire, she will abandon her. She decided to accept Eve's request, and to carry it out at any cost. Anything for the sake of her staying with Elisa forever.

Deeper in the island, on a dimly lit room, Eve stared at an holographic keyboard, her hands moved so fast over it that it was hard to tell what was she writing. On her side, Ann watched her working, finding it slightly amusing. In front of them there was a large chamber. Shaped as a ball, with thick white walls and only a few windows. Thousands of cables were stuck in it, and a faint glow was coming from the inside. It was the central Altera core. The heart of the island. Eve and Ann had placed Sarah inside, and while her ice was melting, Eve was reprogramming the core to work with a new source of power.

The core of altera was designed to use different power sources. Eve knew about it, deep inside her she knew about a way to use living creatures as a source of power. She knew about it, since she also knew that there was a way for her to replace the power source. A code hidden deep inside her, however, Eve couldn't dare to activate it. For some reason, doing so would have wiped out her mind, deleting her emotions, memories and who knows what else. After becoming such an empty husk, she could not even want to power the core anyways.

And there was at least some memories she wants to cherish. Now that she accepted this life, she knew that things would never be the way they used to be. She wouldn't be seeing her old friends anymore. It took her some time, but Eve finally managed to get Elisa confessing her the reason why she offered her Sarah's power. Eve found it ironical that Elisa was doing this to not be alone, and that would made she herself be alone. But maybe it wasn't that bad. Elisa was kind. She isn't the kind of monster that Ann is. Maybe Eve would learn to enjoy her company.

Learn to enjoy her company.

Eve stopped working for a brief moment. She felt like laughing at herself. Barely a month ago she would have slapped herself for saying such silly things, and now a tear was running through her cheek instead. That's right, she finally learnt how to enjoy his company. Somehow, Chung was the most painful one to leave behind. After all the work she put in making him a decent fighter, and the adventure they had together climbing the mountain. She shook her head, those thoughts were slowing down her work.

She tried so hard to protect him, and yet, the last memory she would have of Chung was him being knocked out by Elisa. Eve wondered what would have happen if she had told him about her plan. She was sure he would be against it. However, the chance that he may have accepted it lingered in her head. Whatever it was, it was late now. There's no way Chung would help now. Not with all the villagers dead. Not after hurting everyone. Not with Aisha turned into a doll.

"Where is Aisha?"

Eve suddenly remembered about her. The mage and her had always been distant with each other. They could get along well, but Eve wasn't in the mood to be the one making the first move and Aisha was a bit jealous of her for always taking Elsword's attention all to herself. But she was an intellectual, even if childish, Aisha was wise and always tried to give all of them her best ideas and thoughts. And Eve respected that. She didn't deserve to become Ann's puppet.

"I sent her to explore. Stop worrying about her, she's fine,"

"I want you to release her."

Eve knew Ann wouldn't listen. She knew Ann was against her being one of _them._ She didn't knew the reason, but things were like that. Maybe Ann was jealous of her being liked more by her sister, or maybe she was against Sarah being used like that. Speaking of which. Eve directed her look at the chamber. Sarah was inside. The interior of the chamber was an empty space designed to contain the power source in the case it goes out of control. It wasn't nothing like a livable space. Eve had already planned to fix that, creating some furniture she could use inside or even changing the chamber into a bigger one, but Sarah didn't seem bothered at all by the current situation.

The ice around her had almost melt. Eve didn't had the chance to speak with her ever since the first time they talk. Sarah just accepted Elisa's command in a blind fashion. This level of obedience was puzzling for Eve, considering how kind the vampire had been with her.

"Sarah wants Elisa to be happy," Ann suddenly said.

Eve wondered if Ann saw it on her face or if it was her mental tricks. Whatever it was, it didn't mattered. The chamber was finally ready. The energy produced by Sarah would be absorbed by the machine before turning into ice. That should put Sarah at ease as well, once Eve gives her some better living space that is.

"She lost the will to wish for her own happiness,"

Eve didn't look at Ann, the vampire stood up and started to leave, but the sound of machinery starting to move stopped her. She looked back at the chamber to see a light inside. It looks like Sarah's powers were back online again. Though she was still freezed, her barrier only lasted for so long. One by one, lights began turning on through the floor and walls all the way up to the ceiling. She looked around, realizing this room was way larger than what she originally thought. It was easily bigger than the castle's main hall. An huge space to keep this power reactor and the machinery for it With the lights on, Ann could see the large tubes and the complex system of gears that were in the dark before, now starting to turn slowly once again. As everything started to move, you could hear a rumbling coming from everywhere around her. The island was waking up once more..

"Looks like I made it on time," Eve said, patting her shoulders and walking next to the chamber, checking on Sarah's status through the tiny window on the reinforced door. She quickly looked away, as she made her way for the elevator. They left the chamber, rising to the upper levels. Elisa must be waiting, and Eve wouldn't like to make her wait.

With the main engine now running, the next step was to start the factories so they would start producing Nasods. Eve already had a plan in mind, she has been thinking about it ever since she first met with Elsword and the others. Starting with the production of resource gathering Nasods, she would slowly rebuild this island to her former glory. The only new element in her plan was hiding the vampires and she herself from the world.

* * *

The forest was unusually quiet. Even the soft breeze that swung the leaves seemed to have stopped. The little wild animals ceased their sounds and ran to hide as they felt the presence of a single large predator. The white werewolf moved as sneaky as it could through the forest. Stalking its prey. It quickly spotted Rena, who has separated from the group for whatever reason. The creature moved behind her, preparing to leap from behind the bushes.

The elf seemed to not notice it, she was standing in a small clear, apparently looking for something on the ground. The beast waited until being near enough to reach for her in a single jump. Time slowed down the moment the werewolf jumped from its hideout. He reached for the elf with his claws, only to grasp empty air. Mere seconds before it landed, Rena had already retreated out of its reach.

The ground collapsed the moment that its paw touched the ground and it fell into a excavated hole, deep enough to fit the whole creature. It quickly tried to climb out, but the moment it threw its claws to the walls of the hole, the werewolf found many little balls buried on the sides that just started glowing with a blue light.

Chung's grenades detonated and blew up the hole. The concentrated amount of explosives sent a blue cloud of smoke in every direction. But the beast seemed to be far from death. It's bleeding arms could be seen emerging from the hole, as it clumsily crawled outside. They didn't allow it to catch any breath. Raven and Elsword were waiting on top of the trees for this very moment. With the beast weak and resting on the ground, both swordsmen came crashing from above, swords aimed at the heart and neck.

Even if the beast tried to protect itself, Chung wasn't going to just idle and wait until they were finish. While the monster was focused on the two on the air, he appeared from behind the trees, carrying his cannon on hand. He swung the artillery and struck the monster's head, taking its balance and forcing it to lower its claws. Elsword and Raven reached it, their swords hitting true.

The beast stood quiet for a second, and finally it's skin began moving. It started to disappear, as if being diluted in water. It slowly dropped from the main body, unveiling an empty husc beneath. The shape kept disappearing until finally, the figure of a human came out. A horribly distorted body with dry skin. As Ann suggested, this one had been using the wolf's skin way too much. On top of him, the pristine mane of a wolf rested.

"Burn that thing," Chung said, throwing his cannon over his shoulders.

* * *

 _ **So that's it for the white wolf. Anyway, I'm working on a new project everyone! If you want to know more, I'll start posting it after the next chapter of operation Silver.**_

 _ **I'm going back to write about modern AU and yuri, since it's what makes me more motivated. I hope you enjoy my next piece of work, I'll do my best to make it as interesting as it will be cute :3**_


	16. The end

Eve took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and allowed the night breeze to caress her face. Altera was brimming with life even this late in the night. The tall mountain that used to be a palace for the Nasod had been mostly restored and was now the point where the queen was overlooking her kingdom as they worked. Buried beneath centuries of dust and dirt was a tall white marble tower that housed many complex facilities brought to this world through the Elysium. They were mostly useless now, as even Eve wasn't sure on how to operate most of them, and since they were more a waste of space than anything else, everything was in the process of being either relocated or scraped. Far below from where Eve was standing you could see Altera's surface. The dark sky and the obscured land clashed with the white and blue lights that spreaded from the tower to the edges of the floating island, looking like blood vessels of a large body. The faint sound of excavations could be heard up here, coupled with some other machinery and logistic noises.

Eve stared at her Nasod work in awe, feeling a small but intense fulfilling sensation every time they managed to take down an obstacle, clear a patch of land or just by watching them taking their first steps out of the bowels of the island. It was like a mother watching her toddler walk for the first time.

"So, have you figured it out?"

Eve turned to the voice next to her. Ann was, as always, following her, trying to annoy as soon as there was a chance for it. Being unable to accept that Eve was going to be part of their family, the young vampire kept trying to make Eve's life as hard as possible. Today seemed to be another day on her annoying agenda.

Vampiric powers. There were more to them than Eve had imagined and just now she found a new one to be aware of. As she stepped in the balcony of the tower to watch over the land, she found Ann casually walking down the 90 degree wall right next to her. As if some magic were connecting her feet to the wall, she was able to walk and even jump as if the totally vertical wall was a simple hill. Feeling wary of a possible prank Eve decided to try it for herself and, surprisingly, she felt it quite easy to just walk on the flat wall. It wasn't any different from walking on normal terrain. Her body would be attracted to the wall as if it were totally natural.

Ann had explained it as one of the many ways that vampires defile any and all forms of logic. Eve, however, was trying to think how this works.

"Anyway, when are you going to complete the embrace?"

Ann sounded slightly annoyed. Eve had been delaying the event for three weeks already. Ever since they got the island she excused herself to work on the rebuild of her race. While Elisa didn't seemed concerned about the issue, it seems like Ann believes Eve is going to back away.

The embrace was how they called to turn a living thing into a vampire. The ritual was simple. A vampire feeds their soon-to-be fledgling their own blood to wake up the curse and, after that, the awakened disciple must drink human blood. It's an easy process, except for a simple detail. While Eve wasn't considering it at the time they evacuated the castle, it's a fact that there are no humans on Altera. Even the CoBo office that settled in the ponggo village after the El Search Party settled things with the rogue Nasods was run by the mole people. An office that was recently vandalized by a certain vampire in order to retrieve pieces from their teletransportation device to repair the one they brought from the castle.

"Elisa is already looking for the blood, she told me there's no need to rush it,"

Ann buffed in exasperation. She was clearly unhappy about all this waiting. Eve understood that for Ann, who wasn't as interested in Eve as Elisa was; all of this seemed to be the most annoying thing in the world.

"You know, we have all the blood you need available already, you just need to stop being such a picky eater,"

As she said that, Ann clasped her fingers. Eve looked up as a reflex into the balcony they were standing before starting their vertical walk. A figure peeked from the edge and jumped afterwards. Aisha used her magic to slow her fall. Shiny purple sparks appeared around her legs as her spell let her fall like a feather into Ann's waiting arms. The mage changed a lot in the three weeks she spent with them. Ignoring Eve's request to set her free, Ann's control seemed to have strengthen itself as time passed. The weak look in her eyes and the fragile looks disappeared in a few days as Aisha finally recovered from her terrible state. But her consciousness seemed to be still locked away.

Aisha was now back in shape. While she could look normal to anyone else, for Eve, who spent so much time with her and the others; it was clear that she wasn't herself. Her movements lacked all the energy the cheerful mage used to carry everywhere. The shine on her eyes was gone, replaced by a monochrome purple that seemed to be impervious of the world around them. Even her face was lacking any short of emotion. She wouldn't smile, laugh or even cry now.

And even though, she seemed to be enveloped in some kind of allure that Eve couldn't trace. Her purple hair looked shinier than usual. Her skin was white and flawless and her movements, while being devoid of emotion, had now an elegance that she never saw the mage displaying ever before. Even her new attire looked way better on her than her lame white hoodie. A short black dress with a frilly skirt and armless top. Provided by Ann, who seemed to have turned the mage into her new hobby. She even made her black sandals with laces that wrapped her legs all the way to her knees. If Eve was to compare Aisha with something else she would easily go for some kind of gothic doll.

They returned to the balcony, to the flat floor everyone was used to walk on. Aisha remained on Ann's arms. The vampire moved in front of Eve, stopping her from leaving the place. She moved Aisha's hair away from her neck and traced a line on it with her finger.

"Look at this pristine and soft neck. I can tell you that the blood flowing beneath it is so perfectly sweet that you'll want to suck her dry,"

Eve rolled her eyes. It was true that Aisha's blood was more than enough to complete the embrace, but still, Eve was totally against getting anyone from the El Search Party involved in this anything more than they already were. As things were now, she can't do anything for the poor Aisha, but at least she decided to not make things worse for her.

"It's not like you're going to kill her. It's just a sweet peek on her neck and then you're free to do as you please."

Seeing as Eve was still ignoring the treat offered to her, Ann ran her nail on Aisha's neck. A thin line of blood flowed out, covering her finger. Eve quickly turned away.

Ever since she tasted Elisa's blood, Eve would have this reaction to human blood. The iron smell of the red liquid reached her and she slowly turned around. She could feel her entire body trying to push her over the defenseless mage, being her stubborn mind the only thing preventing it. Just a little blood was enough to force her new instincts to surface. Eve felt her throat burn as if she hadn't had a drink in ages. Her belly growl as a hungry beast and her hands desperately trying to reach for the bleeding neck.

Knowing about it, Ann took a step closer to her, holding her blood stained finger high. Eve couldn't help but follow it with an intent stare as a feline about to jump on its prey. When she finally stood in front of her, with her finger centimeters away from her face, Eve felt the ironish smell of blood numbing her senses. However her teasing session was interrupted when Eve saw the mage stumble over herself. She fell to the ground on her knees. Although she didn't complain, both of them turned to look at her.

"Hmph, what a weak creature she is…"

Ann walked over her, but Eve stopped her.

"Let me take care of her,"

Normally Ann wouldn't comply, but for some reason she decided to allow the Nasod queen to have it her way. She stepped aside and finally left the balcony. Eve sighed, feeling relieved of her presence at last. Though her ordeal had just started. As she kneeled to lift her friend, she saw the strand of blood running through her neck and staining her black dress. Her desire to take care of her friend was, for now at least; stronger than her vampiric hunger.

Eve decided to take Aisha to her room. One of the few places Ann wasn't allowed to go thanks to Elisa. Located on the highest cleared point of the tower, her room was just a place were she kept her clothes and stuff with a fluffy available bed. Leaving her friend in the bed and starting to look for a bandage, Eve felt a pang of guiltiness as the empty gaze of her purple eyes locked on her.

Eve didn't knew if Aisha's consciousness was looking at her through those eyes as some kind of prisoner. She didn't know how the mage ended in this state even. All she knew was that her friend was unable to disobey any command given by Ann. Which resulted in what was going on right now. Aisha's skin was white, but it wasn't thanks to being hidden from the sun. She may have recovered from her excess of mana usage, but Ann had been taking blood from her all the time ever since they arrived here.

Eve was amazed that the mage would last for so long. She finally found a bandage and went back to apply it. As Elisa told her before, it seems that being bitten by a vampire accelerates the production of blood. A logical survival mechanism, Eve thought to herself.

Her hands trembled with the white strap of bandages ready. She looked at the blood on her neck. What harm would do to just take a tiny sip? Eve found herself kneeling next to the bed, unable to stop her mouth from reaching at the mage. Even the purple flat eyes seemed to have an inviting glow in them. But not just enough. Eve pulled away right in time.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The embrace would be happening soon. But not with Aisha. At least not with her friends. She wiped the blood from her neck and was somehow able to cover it with bandages. Without the scarlet liquid in sight, she found it much easier to handle her. With care, Eve cradled Aisha's face and let her rest on her lap. Petting her hair in an attempt to make her go to sleep, Eve thought of the many times she attempted to wake her up from this trance.

She tested everything she could: speaking to her, yelling or whispering, slapping her, making her feel in danger… anything she could do to reach the real Aisha, but nothing worked. Asking Elisa for help didn't work as well, as the older vampire said, nothing can wake up a vampire's slave but the slaver itself. Or, at least; nothing that she knew. But Eve was sure there was a limit to such powers, she just had to find it and then Aisha could leave the island.

"Master is calling,"

Saying that, Aisha stood up and walked through the door. Eve didn't bother to stop her, knowing that she wouldn't no matter what she did. She tried to lock her down in a security room once and somehow Aisha was able to blast the door open with her magic. She just hoped that Ann wouldn't bite her again tonight.

"Test...message…. pond…"

Eve jumped at the sudden sound. She looked around the room, finding the source near the bed. An old communication system that they have been trying to repair. She inspected it and noticed the wire connecting the speakers was a bit off. Adjusting it, she was able to hear the voice loud and clear:

"Test message. Please respond,"

"This is Eve. The message is clear."

Moby and Remy arrived through the door. They settled on each side of their master. The com system working again meant that the two drones could finally stop being errand boys and go back to take care of their master. Something that worried Eve, as both drones were becoming more and more sticky ever since she accepted being a vampire. It was an obvious way of being worried but it was starting to become a problem.

"Moby, Remy, follow Aisha and inform me on her status,"

Both drones exchanged a brief look before finally obeying the command. With them gone, Eve picked up the speaker again.

"Unit-0709, inform me of your current status."

"The communication room had been partially repaired. Communication systems are working again through the island. Structural status has changed from _precary_ to _barely dangerous_. The communication division has already started distributing com devices."

It was a good thing, now she would have to go everywhere everytime she needed to give some orders. An important advance, but more important was the fact that now they could get the security online again.

* * *

"I thought we would never had to come back here,"

Rena threw her arms outside the carriage, ready to pass out at any moment. The heat in Bethma was terrible. The dust and sand blew by the hot wind were a huge annoyance for the elf, specially now that her beautiful green mane had turned into a mix of dirt and hair. Everyone else in the trading cart shared her feelings, although they did their best to remain calm.

"Calm down Rena, we'll arrive at the city soon,"

After leaving the castle, the team had originally planned to buy a teleportation ticket from the CoBo company. However, once they got to Elder, they discovered that the company had lost contact with their office in Altera. Although they tried to reassure the team telling them that they would do all they could to repair the teleportation services, they knew this wasn't just a coincidence. Not to mention that who knows how long it would take them to get the system back.

But without that service, the only way to get to Altera was flying.

"I hope the Black Crow is still intact. If they scrapped it, we won't be getting up there any time soon,"

Raven had suggested they could use his old ship. A mercenary flying machine that he used to be captain off before joining the team. After disbanding his bandit band, Raven left the ship in Bethma since it wouldn't be of any more use to them.

"If we can't use the ship, we'll find another way,"

Everyone looked at Chung, he was directing the cart. Ever since they left the castle, Chung had been behaving in a very strange way. It was unusual for him to be so quiet and assertive and the party could easily tell that he was feeling much more pressure on his back than he should. But no matter how they tried to relieve him, Chung insisted on blaming over himself all that was going on.

It's been weeks since they started the journey, and it wasn't going as well as it should. Without nobody willing to take them to Bethma, they had to resort to travel by foot, which was an obvious bad decision considering that Bethma dessert is big enough to die on their way to the only city in it. Renting a trade cart was a good idea, except that having to direct it themselves meant getting lost several times. No doubt nobody wanted to cross the desert with them.

But things started to look slightly better once they spotted the city in the horizon. With their target in sight, they hurried their pace as much as they could.

Bethma is a tiny city. Most of its inhabitants are members of local tribes. It used to be the only stop on one of the longest trading routes in Lurensia, but with the arrival of the CoBo company the city quickly ran out of visitors and now the only ones that go through the desert to the city are people like the El Search Party. Despite of that, they manage to survive in this horrible conditions somehow, and are even able to offer some interesting product created by the local tribes. But for the team, the most interesting thing in town is the silhouette of the Black Crow.

Before Raven joined the team, when he was a mercenary, he used to command the Black Crow, taking advantage of its flying abilities to always get away with their loot. However, with the band disbanded and he being with the good guys now, the flying ship was left with no one to command it, and now it slowly rusts away on Bethma.

"I hope that thing still works."

Raven jumped out of the carriage. There weren't anyone in the streets. Being the hottest hour of the day, no sane person would gladly walk around. They could hear many voices coming from the Saloon, as well as see people inside their houses. Going to the bar and get a cold drink was really tempting, but before doing that they decided to head for their main objective: the sheriff office.

"Stella! Are you there?"

"Yeah! Yeah! Stop yelling you brat and come in,"

Elsword grinned as he made his way into the two story wooden building. He pushed the doors and was greeted by a lazy gesture from the sheriff. Stella was a young woman, however she had a though appeal, and a strong mood as well. If she weren't so bossy and grumpy, she could easily be considered the city most beautiful woman. She shook her brown hair and stood up to see the rest of the team. Her office was as empty as ever, which was a good thing considering that half of it were cells.

"What brings you to this hell hole?"

"We need to take the Black Crow. Do you still have the keys?"

She went back to her table and searched inside. Taking away many papers, she finally dug out a golden key.

"I suppose you're not going to use that thing for anything bad, right? Cause if you're going to do anything bad, you can be sure I'll be waiting for you with a gun aimed at your face."

"Don't worry, we are going to board the ship to get to Altera." Elsword picked up the key. Stella didn't seemed very interested about their mission. She was the kind of woman to mind her own business, and the party knows it's best not to get into her business.

They headed to the Black Crow. The massive ship rested at the side of town. Undisturbed ever since they left it there. It was a good thing that it wasn't scrapped, but at the same time, the abandoned status in which it was worried them.

"I guess we'll have to do some repairing before setting sail…"

The ship was similar to those that sail on water, with the difference of having an additional deck around the whole structure. Most of its guns and cannon were rusted or destroyed. The railings and hallways that were outside were covered in a dark brown layer of rust, and there was sand everywhere. Getting the ship back to its original glory seemed to be an impossible task, but get it back on the sky at least until reaching Altera seemed doable.

"At least we'll have a decent place to rest…" Rena said, already thinking on the comfy cabins. They must be in pretty bad shape though.

"One delay after another…" Chung muttered to himself. Every second they wasted was a second Aisha and Eve had to spend with the vampires. The sole thought of it was killing him.

"Chung," Elsword said, pulling from his shoulder "We're getting sick of your constant complaining."

"Elsword!" Rena yelled at him, but she was stopped by Raven, who gestured for her to follow him into the ship.

"Have some faith in your friends. They'll be fine. We know both of them. They went through worse. It's good that you are trying to bear responsibility for what happen, but doing that is one thing, and turning yourself into a bag of self-pity is another. Now, let's get the ship back in the sky, I don't want to hear any more complaints."

Chung was about to say something, but he stopped. He didn't realize he had been such a pain. Of course his friends would be as worried as he was. And maybe they were feeling as guilty as he was. He took a deep breath and followed his friend inside the ship.

The state of the ship wasn't as bad as it looked. The engines seemed fine, removing the dirt and sand that got into the machinery should be enough to allow the thing to work again. The weapons were long gone so they would have to fight the vampires on their own. Not like they planned to do otherwise. Were as it were, they started working right away.

* * *

"Security systems are online. Squad-01 reporting for duty,"

Eve received the salutations of the first security team of the island. A team of Nasods similar to humans, dressed in black with cross shaped blades at the ready. They left the room after receiving their queen blessing. Eve had instructed them to patrol the island and inform about anything out of the usual.

"With that, stage 1 of your plan is completed, right?"

She turned around to see Elisa watching her, she was wearing a smile on her face and quietly walked next to her. The vampire didn't say a thing, and waited for Eve to finish her work before speaking again. There was something in her words that worried Eve.

"Are you ready for your embrace?"

"Is the blood ready?"

With the teleportation device repaired, Elisa was able to get out of Altera to look for the last material they needed for the ritual. Eve wasn't sure why it took her so long, but Elisa finally prepared a sample good enough for it.

"I'll get things ready, come and see me on my room after a while,"

She left the room. Eve sighed. The embrace won't be delayed any more.

She was absolutely clear that she wanted to do this. Just by looking at how life came back to her people in such a short spawn of time was already reason enough to do it. And yet, a small part of her was against it. She knew that once done it could not be reversed. She could easily reign over the Nasod from the shadows of the night, but at the same time. She knew she wouldn't be seeing her friends anymore.

"They are not as important as my race…" Eve thought to herself. She did everything she could to steel herself of that thought. Constantly looking at the progress of her creations as a way to convince herself. All of this would be a lot easier if she wouldn't have to worry about any of those memories…

Something snapped her out of those thoughts, she was receiving sudden informations from… Remy. Eve quickly took a look at the log sent by her drone. Aisha was awake! She rushed to the place designated by her drones. She forgot about the embrace and rushed the stairs into Ann's room. Not caring if the vampire was inside or not, she slammed the door open only to find Aisha staring at herself.

"Eve?"

Just being able to hear her say something that wasn't a monotone command of her master was enough for her to confirm Aisha was back. The mage rose to her feet and hurried to hug Eve. Something that would have made the former to slap her, but this time it only caused Eve to freeze in place. The Nasod Queen couldn't bring herself to look at her friend and stood totally unmoving as Aisha squeezed her.

"Eve I'm so sorry. I tried resisting but I couldn't do anything to stop her. It was like I was in a dream from which I couldn't wake up. I'm so glad that you're here."

She felt those words slicing her guilty feelings. All that happened to Aisha was her own fault and yet she was apologizing for everything. It was almost funny, but obviously Eve couldn't bring herself to laugh. She took a deep breath before holding Aisha by her shoulders. The mage immediately freeze up, just realizing how awfully familiar she had been with Eve despite her not enjoying that kind of thing.

Eve had to take a moment to put her thoughts in order. She explained everything for Aisha. Almost the same exact words that she said to Chung not long ago. The mage quietly waited for her to finish. Talking with Aisha turned out to be a lot easier, compared to Chung. Probably because she just waited for her to finish, or maybe because of some other reason, what mattered now was what she would say.

"And, for that reason, I'll get you out of this island," Eve concluded her monologue. Aisha looked at her for a while. Eve felt as if she were scanning every part of her face, making sure she was the real Eve.

"Does that mean that you want to stay here with the vampires?"

That question was not what Eve was hoping to get from her, but it was a good thing that Aisha understood her current situation so easily. Eve nodded at her, Aisha waited for a bit more before speaking again.

"Even if there's the chance that you're being tricked and used?"

Eve nodded.

"And after what these vampires did. Destroying the village, harming your friends and who knows what else have they done already?"

Eve nodded.

"Even after I was slaved by them until now?"

Again, Eve nodded. Aisha was right to be angry. Eve wouldn't ask for forgiveness anyway. Doing that kind of things was out of her reach now. Not to mention, Aisha and the other would probably try to hunt her down now. They were things she knew the moment that she chose to walk down this path.

"I can't believe that you, of all people; would end up in a mess like this," Aisha said, standing up. She looked around to make sure nobody was listening "I bet the others already on their way here to rescue us. I don't know how I was freed from the vampire's power, but let's take this chance and run away."

"Aisha… I'm not going anywhere. I'll use the teleporter to take you back to Lurensia, and I made sure the others aren't able to get here so…"

"You can't choose if you're rescued or not. Eve, you're out of your mind. Are you really going to tell me that you thought I would believe all that crap so easily? No. Not from the Eve that I know."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of applause. They turned around to see a single vampire by the door. Ann had an entertained look in her eyes and moved closed with her sarcastic clapping.

"How lovely, I couldn't bring myself to interrupt both of you."

Eve immediately tensed up. The chance to get Aisha out of the island was there and she wouldn't let it pass. She was about to knock Ann down and make a run for it, but stopped after seeing Elisa by the door wearing a worried expression.

"Eve, concerning your embrace… there's something I need to tell you…"

"Cut the sweet words sis," Ann interrupted the other vampire "I'll summarize. You're going to use Aisha's blood for the embrace."

"That's not what we agreed on…" Eve complained, ignoring Ann's presence.

"I know dear," Elisa began explaining "But… I just talked with Sarah. She said she'll be fine lending you her power but… She said that she would only do it if you show that you can sacrifice something for us as well."

Eve bit her lower lip. Sarah's desires weren't on her calculations. Until now, Sarah was something Eve took for granted. She felt the girl's sorrow and yet failed at thinking about her as something else than an asset to her plans. Before she could reply, Ann already flew past her and seized the mage in her arms. Aisha tried to resist but her strength was as good as nothing compared with the vampire.

"Do you really thought I would let my servant to get away? The only reason that I let you get your consciousness back is because I felt like it would be a lot more fun like this. Elisa, I'll prepare her, don't wait too long,"

Ann left the room with Aisha in tow. Eve had to look away when she saw the mage look at her with desperate eyes. The urge to stop Ann grew in her as she disappeared down the hallway.

"Eve, calm down. If you want her to be safe, you have to listen." Elisa said, grabbing Eve by her arm and dragging her along. Ann and Aisha were already out of sight "I told you what you need to do during the embrace. You'll drink her blood, but, you don't have to kill her. However… once you start drinking your new instincts will blurr your judgement. You need to keep a cool head during the process. I know you can…"

She wasn't sure. All of this was so sudden. If it were something that Elisa or Ann requested Eve would try to fight against it, but it was from Sarah, her only reason to be doing this on the first place. Doubts assailed her as they walked to the room Elisa was using as bedroom. In front of the door, Eve was greeted by her two drones.

They beeped at her quite alarmed, so much that even Elisa had to ask what was going on. But the confusion didn't last long as the security communications started ringing.

"An unauthorized ship is entering our aerial space," The message said over the com system, repeating itself a few more times.

"I won't allow nothing to interrupt our ritual again, I'll have Ann take care of this, Eve, come with me."

Without time to think about anything else, Eve followed Elisa into her room at the same time that Ann left. The Black Crow. Eve did thought of the chance that the ship would still be functional. But it couldn't arrive at a worse situation. Although, they may come in handy, if Eve manages to let Aisha escape now she could ran away with them. All that she had to do is to pretend the mage escaped on her own…

The moment Eve stepped in the room, she was greeted by an already familiar smell. A red ironish scent that belonged to the scarlet liquid she had been desperately craving these last weeks. Blood. Her eyes searched the source and found it on Aisha. Lying on one bed with a cut over her collarbone. A thin string of blood flew down her chest. Ann had ripped her dress open, exposing the mage much more than she needed to be. The smell was numbing, seeing the mage served as a fine plate didn't help.. Eve felt a push on her back as Elisa walked her over the bed. Her hands already moved on her own, grabbing the mage and bringing her closer. Aisha looked at Eve. The look of fear from before was gone. She was still conscious, but somehow her eyes looked different. Eve couldn't really tell, but it seemed like she wasn't bothered at all by what was happening.

"Try to restrain yourself as to not kill her," Elisa whispered in her ear before moving away from them.

* * *

"Woah… That place had really changed!" Rena said, observing the flying island from the bridge. The Black Crow had managed to get back on duty and they were about to reach Altera's shores. The blue lights painted a beautiful pattern against the black sky on top of the island.

"Be on guard, who knows what might be waiting for us there…" Elsword warned, remembering the last time they were in Altera.

"With Eve there, I'm pretty sure that it won't be that easy to get in there again…" Raven added, steering the wheel to circle the island. He was looking for the spot where he used to land back when he was with the mercenaries. It wasn't far from the center of the island.

They kept watching the surroundings of the island when the radio equipment on bridge started buzzing. It seemed that a signal was being transmitted to them. Chung quickly got on it and cranked the machine until the signal was intelligible.

"Warning to approaching ship. You're entering unauthorized aerial space. Turn away at once!"

"Hey, It's us Eve. Tell your goons to let us through!" Elsword shouted from the other side of bridge. Good thing Chung wasn't transmitting anything back. He turned on the microphone and prepared to negotiate their approach.

"This is the Black Crow. We request permission to land. We have to speak with Eve. It's a serious matter of life or death."

There was a pause. It wasn't long, and Chung could hear something working on the other side of the radio. He had a memory flashing in his mind, back when Eve would try to process a strange question.

"Your highness hadn't informed us of any visit today. Turn around or we will open fire!"

"Turn off that stupid thing, we're going in!" Raven yelled, quickly turning the wheel. The ship rocked to the side as they took a sharp turn towards the island. Chung turned off the radio and headed outside. The wind was strong as the ship accelerated towards the island. He could see many of the blue lights turn red as large cannons rose from the ground. Steering to aim at them. Chung readied his cannon and aimed at the coastal defenses. Loaded an special bullet and pulled the trigger. A large projectile went flying out of his cannon and propelled itself towards the cannons. Near the ground, it split into many smaller missiles that scattered around the area. Tiny explosions appeared in the night sky as many of the red lights disappeared.

But it wasn't enough. The more closer they were, more defenses were activating. The ship shook violently as a explosion bursted in the lower deck. The cannons had started firing. Raven did all he could to avoid being hit, but a ship this big is surely not fitted for this kind of action. Chung could spot some guided missiles being launched from the ground. As they were getting close he realized how awfully huge they were. He reached for his cannon and shoot at them, but his bullets dropped beneath them.

Just as they were about to hit the ship, Rena sprung to action. She drew three arrows on her bow and released them. The arrows flew in a strange pattern. As if they were carried by the wind, they circled the missiles and hit them from several points, finally detonating them. But they didn't have time to celebrate. A new array of cannons appeared on sight and fired a barrage of shells that lit up the sky. Raven did his best to maneuver through the enemy fire but some bullets reach the target. The entire ship shook as violent explosions teared the starboar.

"We're losing power. Elsword, pump it up!" Raven shouted through the com tube in the bridge. The brass tubes carried his message into the engine room where Elsword was ready to give an extra push to the ship. The machine that kept this ship afloat was a combination of El energy and steam, something that Elsword could easily handle. He readied himself and stuck his sword into the blast chamber, pumping his own fire energy into the machine. The gears around the room started spinning fast as smoke began flowing from everywhere.

"It's done, but it won't last much,"

"No matter. We have new plans. We're crashing into the palace!"

Chung surely misheard the last part. But it was confirmed when Raven pushed the wheel all the way to the left, turning the ship. The aft was pointing at the white mountain at the center of the island now.

"There's no way we can get through an army of Nasod. Will you be able to secure your own landing right?"

Chung glanced briefly at Rena before nodding. Raven gave a final push to the wheel, moving away the aft from crashing and causing the ship to rock towards the tower. They ran to the edge and jump off. Chung was able to see Elsword jumping off the lower deck. He swung his sword and was surrounded in a fireball as he came crashing into the palace wall. Creating a big hole in it.

"That's our entrance!" Raven shouted. Rena fired an arrow with rope tied to it at the palace and swung from it, catching Raven on her way down to the whole. Chung used his cannon to shoot downwards and lose speed while trying to redirect himself into the palace. He barely missed the ceiling and rolled on the ground. He felt pain on his chest from the crash. Being so used to have his armor pad this kind of impacts, he felt somehow sad of its current state.

"I still remember this place quite well, Rena and I will look for Eve, meanwhile you two…" Raven started to say, but was cut by Chung who buttered in before he could finish.

"No. We won't split here. We won't be able to fight the vampires if we're not all together. Aisha and Eve will be alright, our priority is to find the vampires and get rid of them."

They looked at each other, Raven seemed to be fine with the plan; but Rena and Elsword looked a bit too worried about their friends.

"Listen, if we are defeated now, nobody will save them," Chung added, seeing the hesitancy on their faces.

They finally agreed on the idea and headed off. They were on some kind of storage room that lead into a large hallway. There was an alarm ringing and they could hear heavy footsteps heading their way. They started moving fast, avoiding any open space they might come across. The tower was really big, and navigating it would have been impossible if it weren't by Raven and the others. Despite everything being up and running, the place hadn't changed much, and soon they reached the service stairs.

"Eve told us once that all the energy from Altera comes from its core. I bet we can find the vampires near it. For now, it's our best lead."

They went downstairs for a while until they finally reached the bottom. The hallway there only lead to a single door. On the other side was a huge room totally empty. The walls were so tall that they couldn't see the ceiling. There was no windows on the room, and all the light came from the devices on the floor. There were many doors on the other side of the room, but the party stood freeze at the entrance once they saw the already familiar figure of the vampire Ann coming through. She walked quietly, making a gesture that caused the doors to the room close shut.

"I thought you would be wise and run away… But you still came. This time Eve won't be able to save you thought…"

"What are you talking about? Release our friends right now or we'll have to take you down!" Raven ordered. The vampire stared at him before bursting in laughter.

"You weren't able to fight me back them, and you think you can face me now?" Ann said, cleaning a tear from her eye.

"It looks like she's going to fight alone. We have a chance to test out our strategy," Chung whispered. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Blood started flowing around Ann, gathering in her right hand and shaping a longsword. She looked at her enemies one by one trying to decide which one to kill first. The team stood in their place, ready for her attack. The vampire didn't waited long before charging in, her speed was as incredible as ever. She moved in a erratic path that lead in front of Raven. He shielded himself in time, bouncing her sword off his. Ann moved away from him, targeting the elf behind Raven. Rena saw her coming, with a leap she got out of the way. Ann's claws grasped the elf's legs, but she didn't tried to pursue her, instead moved again, going after Elsword. Seeing the knight hiding behind his sword, she pushed it again with her bare hand and lunged with her sword. The sword bounced off Elsword's body as a red aura enveloped him. He threw himself against the vampire, pushing her back. Ann felt something beneath her and jumped away just in time to avoid being blown up by Chung's grenades. She was about to dive into the guardian, when Elsword leaped from within the blue smoke of the grenades. With his sword covered in fire, he swung at the vampire mid air. For a moment he thought he managed to hit her, but Ann was fast to pull out her black wings and get away.

The vampire disappeared into the dark top of the room. The party went back to their positions, waiting for her to come down again. They heard the wings flapping. The sound of the feathers stopped and suddenly Ann came crashing down at blinding speed. They all get out of the way. The vampire pounded the ground with enough strength to crack it. The team felt their footing unstable as the entire room started to crumble. Chung saw his chance. Scattering grenades around him, he shoot at the vampire to caught her attention. Ann easily dodged the projectiles and rushed at him. She was aware of the grenades around him, but her speed was enough to pass over them without getting caught on the explosion. She lunged at the end of her charge, burying her sword on the cannon. The grenades exploded and made the ground finally break.

Rena and Raven were able to ride the debrii all the way into the ground below. They were in a room similar to the upper one, luckily not as tall. Chung saw Ann pull out her wings again, he aimed downwards and propelled himself towards the vampire, using the momentum from the cannon to slam against the vampire. With her feet in the air, the vampire wasn't able to stop the cannon, and both of them flew against the wall. With the vampire trapped between the walls and the cannon, Elsword appeared from above. He had his sword ready with fire magic. Chung pulled away the moment that Elsword crashed against the vampire.

A huge explosion sent both the boys flying. Rena and Raven hurried to catch them on their way down. The flames that erupted from the explosion descended into the ground. They didn't see any movement within them. The doors on this lower room slammed open and a group of Nasod entered. They were tall humanoid figures, clad in white and black armor with large firearms on their hands. They surrounded the fire and pointed at the team. The flames finally died out. Ann was still standing. Her skin was black, and some bit seemed to be still burning. Her furious face stared down at them.

"She looks pretty bad," Raven stated "But those Nasod are bad news. I've never saw those models, they must be new…"

"We're not ones to talk…" Elsword added, he had his sword on the ground, serving as a support to stand. The red aura around him dissipated and his injuries started to show.

The Nasod pointed their weapons at the team. Energy started concentrating on their barrels. Just before they shoot lasers at them, a large explosion detonated below them, breaking their formation. The was took by surprise as well, specially when they finally traced down the source of the explosion.

"Aisha!" Elsword was the first one to react. He saw the mage just arrived. Pointing her staff at the group of enemies in front of her. He tried to stand up to go and meet with her, but couldn't gather the strength to do so.

"Eve is in danger!" Aisha said, concentrating her spell again. The smoke cleared and the group of Nasod were already back on foot. Their attention divided between the mage and the rest of the team.

"It's time to separate. Chung, go look for her," Raven said, preparing his sword to take on the new enemies.

"But we said we shouldn't separate!" Chung complained. He surely was eager to go after Eve, specially knowing she was in danger. But with all that happened, he knew that wasn't the best idea.

"Ann is weakened. These Nasods look strong but we'll be able to handle them. Trust us, so just go!" Rena said. Chung still had some doubt, but deep inside he felt glad about splitting up here.

"Fine!"

* * *

Eve fell to the ground. She felt the taste of blood on her mouth, except that it was her own blood. She tried running towards the core, but Elisa was able to catch up with her. With all the speed she was able to gather, Eve shutted down the whole area. The security mechanism around the core was specially designed to keep intruders out, and a vampire wouldn't be an exception. However, she felt uneasy about it. Moby and Remy circled around her, doing what they could to stabilize her wounds.

A long gash on her back was the most worrying one. The pain kept Eve from being able to stand up, and if it weren't by her drones she wouldn't even be able to move.

"I guess she didn't like it, after all," Eve said to herself, moving away from the control panel and sitting against the wall. She glanced at the core. The light inside hadn't changed. Sarah must be oblivious about everything going on on the outside.

She was afraid that she would pass out. Taking a rest would have been nice, but there wasn't time for that. Moby started showing a live image from the inside of the building. Eve saw her friends fighting Ann with a group of Nasods, as well as Chung moving towards her position.

"Why is the security unit with Ann?" Eve wondered to herself.

As if answering the question, the lockdown on the room was cancelled. The doors opened and Elisa walked in. She was as calm as ever. With a pained look she glanced at Eve on the ground.

"You must be surprised. After all I never showed any interest in these machines. But I have to confess. Along the years I have learned one thing or two about them."

Eve used the wall to help herself up. She stood defiant in front of Elisa. She must have hijacked the system somehow. Something that Eve thought it was impossible, but it was the only explanation. Elisa suddenly moved, pushing Eve away from the wall and twisting her arm. Eve found herself trapped in a lock from the vampire. Elisa caressed her face with care.

"Look at you. It would have been so easy to do what we agreed on… But don't worry. You'll be mine even if you don't want…"

The pain on her back intensified as Elisa squeezed her. Moby and Remy tried to separate them, but weren't unable to get closer. Elisa used her magic to create a flowing shield of blood that shoved both drones away. Eve tried to free herself with her free hand, but there was nothing that she could do to resist the vampire might.

She was about to pass out, who knows what would happen then, but someone arrived in time to keep her awake. Through the blood shield she was able to see a figure, getting closer.

"Leave her alone!" Chung shouted, slamming his shield against the blood shield. It barely made the smooth surface of the orb to tremble, which made Elisa to smile.

"Chung. I'm surprised you came back. Are you here to join us again? Surely not, besides; It's not like we would give you the chance again." Elisa said.

Being distracted with Chung, Elisa didn't realize that Eve had created a photon disc in her hand and that she was about to throw it in her face. The vampire shielded herself but freed Eve in doing so. Seeing the Nasod stumbling towards him, Chung was quick to grab her hand, pushing her closer and away from the vampire. Chung felt horrorized of her current state, but there was no time to feel guilty. He looked back at the vampire. Elisa dropped her calm face to return the look with angry written in her face. She moved her hands, making two blood streams take the shape of a snake and fly towards him. Chung get a better hold on Eve and dodged the attack. The bloody snakes pounded the ground with tremendous strength. Elisa wasn't satisfied with that, she kept morphing the blood around her, shaping it into snakes, bats, birds and even wolves. The pack of animals swirled around the blood shield before flying towards Chung. This time it was Eve the one to take action, calling her drones next to her, they flew in circles around them, creating a shield like hexagonal grid that destroyed the blood projectiles.

Blood concentrated again in front of Elisa, forming a scarlet ball. A simple gesture from her and the liquid shoot itself forward in a unstoppable stream. It pierced the shield and barely missed both of them on their way to the ground. Chung was quick to get back on his feet. He position himself on his firing stance and unloaded the cannon against the vampire. The projectiles hit the blood shield and detonated. After a while, the blue smoke cleared out and Elisa was visible again, still protected by her shield.

"Good luck reaching me with such petty attacks…" She threatened, readying another volley of blood.

Elisa moved away from the wall. Always surrounded by a shifting sphere of blood. More animals made of blood were shaped around her and they continued to fly against them. Chung didn't find it difficult to evade them, but he noticed how hindered were Eve's movements. She could barely keep up with the attacks and much less fight back. Darting from his position, he grabbed her hand and pulled her. He did so without thinking, but when Eve squeezed his hand back, Chung felt a familiar warmth on it.

"Where are you running?" Elisa questioned, following them.

There wasn't many places to go. The hallways from where Chung arrived were too narrow to fight her and going deeper into the core would mean that they would eventually be trapped.

"She's in the system. The doors won't contain her. And I can imagine that the other units are working for her…" Eve whispered. Chung was thinking as fast as he could. Elisa wasn't moving as fast as Ann. She probably can't keep the shield up at full speed. But having to carry Eve was also avoiding Chung from leaving her behind.

"Eve, I have an idea," Chung said, leading for the doors.

* * *

Elsword dropped his sword. He needed a rest to keep using his magic. The Nasod unit that joined the combat turned out to be stronger than expected, not to mention that more of them were on the way.

"Elsword, move back and cover Aisha. We have to take this chance."

Raven's words made sense, but the knight barely managed to stand. Surviving the fall from the Black Crow, the previous fight with Ann and the extended use of his Iron Body depleted him of energy. He managed to reach Aisha, who was concentrated with her staff floating in front of her. Elsword thought the black dress she was wearing looked nice on her, a shame it was something from these vampires. Only then did he realized off the cut on her neck and the blood flowing into her chest. Which made the knight look away as he realized how dangerously exposed the mage was.

Ann had slowed down considerably. Maybe because of the pain she was feeling or just due to exhaustion. However, her monstrous strength remain the same as ever. While Raven was doing his best to keep her distracted, Rena was trying to destroy the Nasod unit.

Their laser rifles were far more powerful than any weapon they had when the team last visited Altera. They even seemed to be more intelligent now. Capable of moving in groups, covering the rear and the sides and using the terrain to their advantage, there was something in this unit that made it more stronger than any other Nasod they ever seen, except for Eve.

However, there was a flaw to their expertise, and that was cooperating with Ann, as the vampire seemed to be submerged in a deep rage. She didn't care if the Nasods helping her were caught in her wide attacks, and she even used them as throwable weapons if they would be near enough. Raven already dodged some of them, and was getting used to the new way the vampire fights. Without her speed, Raven can easily outmaneuver her and attack from her blindsides, the problem is that his attacks don't have any effect.

Rena tensed her bow, an ice arrow forming on the string, she shoot at the Nasod unit causing them to get trapped between walls of ice.

"Raven, get that thing here!" She shouted, moving away from the Nasods. Raven lunged his sword, successfully stabbing the vampire's shoulder. Ann didn't flinch, she kept pushing towards the mercenary. Raven dodged her sword and claws and ran away towards the rest of the team.

Aisha had her spell ready. Using such a spell in a closed area would be a bad idea, but this room was tall enough for it. She had enough of the vampire. Of being under her control and everything else Ann did to her. It was her time for payback. As much rage as the vampire had, Aisha was sure it wasn't comparable to hers. As Ann ran towards the team, she caught on the smell of blood from Aisha. Forgetting about Raven, she ran towards the mage with renewed strength.

They moved away from Aisha just as the vampire reached her. Aisha finished her spell and both of them were engulfed in flames. The fire started spinning, forming a large tornado. They heard someone screaming from the inside, not sure who it was through the sound of the fire. The heat it radiated was enough to melt the ice trapping the Nasods, and they came back to charge.

"Let's get rid of these guys already!" Elsword said, charging first against them.

They shot their lasers. Grazing Elsword, each one tearing small bits of his blood. The accuracy they had was somehow amazing, considering the efforts Elsword was making to avoid the attacks. When he was close enough, Elsword covered his sword in flames once again and slammed the ground around them. A new explosion send the Nasods flying. As they landed, they were unable to stood up again. And so was Elsword, who passed out due to exhaustion.

The tornado cleared. Slowly, the flames disappeared and both Raven and Rena watched in expectation. The slim figure of their friend appeared. She was holding onto her stick with what little strength she had. Ann was nowhere to be seen.

"She's gone," Aisha said. She felt it. Seconds before Ann turned into ash in front of her, Aisha felt something separating from her. She wasn't sure if it was due to the bond they had before or why, but she felt pain and sorrow on her heart moments before Ann finally died. Aisha felt angry, but for a different reason now.

She felt bad for Ann. Now that she was free from her grip, Aisha felt a strange flow of emotions in her head. Emotions that she already felt, not long ago; during her dreams while Ann was in control of her body. She thought all of these were just illusions to keep her from waking up, but now they felt a little bit different. It wasn't fair. She hated that vampire for all that she did and yet now she had to feel sorry about it.

"Aisha. It's ok, you're with us now," Rena said in a reassuring voice after seeing the afflicted face of the mage. She hugged the mage tightly and patted her head "We'll get Eve back with us and leave this place. You earned a rest."

* * *

"So, he finally ran away huh?" Elisa said. She followed Chung and Eve into the hallways. For a moment it seemed that they managed to get away, but she finally reached at least one of them. Eve was alone, crawling her way into the upper levels of the palace "I guess he did the right thing. Don't you agree, Eve? Now he'll live. It's a bit of a shame that his rescue operation ended in such a coward action thought."

"I can handle you alone," Eve said, getting back to her feet. Moby and Remy chirped at her sides, begging her to run away as well.

"No, you won't. Eve, be a nice girl and stay still. It hurts me to see you in such a terrible state,"

"It's a bit ironic that you say so when it's you the one that left me like this…" Eve said. She readied herself. Moby and Remy stopped their complains and assumed fighting positions.

Elisa moved closer to Eve. She didn't wait for her, sending Moby and Remy already on the attack. They lunged their spears into the shield. Although they dived into it, the shield regained unscated. A blue portal opened over Eve's head, and her missile launcher dropped on her hands. Training a shot at her, she released the projectile. The small missile was covered in blood, and it's explosion muffled. The shield warped violently and spikes grew out of it, travelling all the way along the hallway. Eve ducked to avoid them, but she felt something cut on her leg. Among the spikes, Elisa sent some bloody snakes as well. Eve fell on her back, but instead of crawling away, she rolled towards the vampire. Elisa called back on the spikes on her shield. Eve prepared to summon her Nasod driller, but was stopped when something stabbed her. She saw a blood spike sticking out of her stomach.

The sharp pain paralyzed her. The spike break apart from the rest and remained impaled there. She heard Elisa moving closer. Moby and Remy were screaming at her. Either she would run away or heal herself. Both options impossible right now.

"All this pain for nothing. You could be happily reigning over your Nasods if you had obeyed, but instead you're almost dying now." Elisa said.

The vampire had almost caught up with her, but Eve remained on her place. Not doing anything, simply waiting. Elisa kept walking, she felt sure of her victory. With Chung gone it was just a matter of time that she would force Eve to complete the embrace. She felt something on her feet and quickly looked down.

But not quickly enough. A explosion from within the shield engulfed her. The blood around her moved violently trying to block the damage but was unable to do so. Chung didn't wait for the smoke to clear. He came running from the corner and swung his cannon at the smoke. He felt something being hit and without a doubt he pulled the lever. Elisa was sent flying to the other side of the room. Her shield was broken and the blood forming it was now on the ground. Chung looked back at Eve, but she already moved.

Doing her best to not pass out, Eve moved towards Elisa. The vampire was on the ground, stunned by the sudden explosion and the successive attack. She looked at Eve moving closer and readied her blood spikes. But Eve didn't stop, she reached Elisa and finally felt on the ground, supporting herself on the vampire.

"Elisa. I'm sorry. It's true it was me the one who failed to follow our agreement. But I can't possibly follow it. I thought I could, but I can't." Eve said, kneeling in front of her. She saw the vampire trying to collect back the blood from her shield. Eve summoned one of her spears and pointed at the vampire's chest.

"Eve, if I die, everyone binded to my bloodline will. You'll be saved since you didn't complete the embrace, but Sarah will die, and so the energy that brought this island back to life will die as well,"

"I know."

Eve didn't said anything more. She pushed her spear. Elisa grabbed it before it could pierce her chest, but Chung arrived, he slammed his cannon on the pommel and the spear finally made it to the vampire's heart. Elisa didn't scream. She looked at Eve for an instant. The Nasod queen returned the gaze.

Loneliness. All her life it has been what Elisa felt. She thought Eve was like her. The only survivor of an emotionless race. She had to be like her. Elisa convinced herself and refused to see any wrong on her actions. She forced Eve to think like her, did everything she could to ensure she would turn into a vampire and remain with her forever. But in the end she failed. She crossed the line. She knew Eve had limits as well. But Elisa was convinced she would manage to subdue her if those would have been crossed. And she could have done it, if it weren't for her friends.

Eve was surrounded by friends. They even went in a suicide mission to rescue her. That made her totally different from her. Eve may have been lonely, but she managed to find people to be with.

Elisa felt something warm on her hand. She realized Eve was holding it. It was comforting. In the end, at least on her last breath; she wasn't alone.

The vampire turned into dust. Her beautiful figure was reduced to a pile of ash. Eve looked at the remains of her hand, now nothing more than black powder dirtying her hand. Without Elisa to lean on, Eve fell down.

"Eve!" Chung shouted, immediately grabbing her. The blood spike on her stomach had disappeared leaving behind a bleeding wound.

"You idiot. What took you so long?" Eve complained. Chung looked at her with apprehension on his face. However he didn't produce any stupid excuse like he would have done long ago.

"Come on, I knew you would live through this,"

It was a bold statement, considering Eve's state. But he was mostly right. After analyzing herself, Eve found out that there wasn't any fatal injury. The blood loss was a problem though, but she would recover from it.

"I'll live through this, but I'll need your help,"

"Of course,"

"So. What are you doing here?"

"You really need to ask?" Chung said.

"Yeah. I need to ask. I want to know why did you ignore my petition and still decided to stuck your nose in this,"

"Well, even if you say that, we still had to rescue Aisha and…"

"Is that your only reason?"

Chung quieted down for a moment. He never had this kind of conversation with Eve. Moby and Remy had already started to work on healing her wounds. The sound of their movements were the only thing breaking the silence now.

"No, of course not. I mean, yeah, Aisha was one of our reasons of course but… I couldn't let yourself do this,"

"Why?"

"Because this is not like you, Eve," Chung complained "I-I don't know how to say this but… These moments climbing the mountain and some other times before… I felt like you were showing me a different you. Like, if you were a different person of what I thought you were. And then suddenly you start working with vampires, building an army… This doesn't suit you."

"It still doesn't explain why you are here,"

"Well. The thing is that I wanted to know that side of you. I don't know. I suddenly felt scared of losing the chance to get closer to you. Like I finally managed to break away from your coldness… What I mean is…" Chung seemed to struggle with his words now "I care for you. I always cared for you but now I actually have a reason to do so… I think…"

"I see. I understand. The truth is, I also felt something similar. Before I was about to complete the embrace, the smell of flowers that lingered on Aisha's hair bring me back to my senses."

"Flowers?"

"Yeah. Just flowers. The ones that used to grow on the camp when we set near Elder. Aisha likes to use them as adornments sometimes. It made me remember about you all. And I felt scared too, of losing that. I can't believe that I'm considering that kind of lifestyle as worthy as reviving my race…"

Chung waited there, not sure of what to answer. Eve saw his dull face and smiled before adding.

"And I guess I can blame you for that,"

Chung eyes lighted up. Eve tried to stood up, but he stopped her. Chung lifted her and carried her out the corridors. As they were walking, the lights suddenly went out, being replaced by small lights on the ground.

"Sarah is gone. The energy ran out,"

Even after all that happened, Eve felt sad about losing this chance to revive her race. But as she was being carried away by Chung, she felt like maybe, and just maybe; there would be new chances to make it work. Meanwhile, she was happy from being back with them.

* * *

Chung looked through the window, sighing. The door slammed open and Eve came in without saying anything. She drop herself on the bed and waited for a while before lazily looking at her side.

"Why do you keep joining these missions if all you're going to do is wait here forever?" She complained.

Chung sighed. He stopped working on the maintenance of his weapons and, before Eve could complain about it, blew the candles so she could sleep. Some things never change no matter what.

"It's the same reason you keep asking Elsword to put you in my team…"

* * *

 _ **Soooo... It's finally over.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed, tell me what you think about it and everything you like ^^**_

 _ **So my first attempt at writing Cheve was... dissapointing. In the end the story was much more complex than what I had originally planned, and the main pairing didn't had that many times to interact with each other. I feel like they are barely friends by the end of the story, but well; since it's Eve I guess that's already a victory for Chung.**_

 _ **Now, if you're interested, for my next work I'll be back to the world of Modern AU Yuri. I feel WAY more comfortable working with that to be honest.**_

 _ **Bye, and thanks for readying 3**_


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